A third of Bolton parents do not believe that some schools in the borough dealt with bullying quickly and effectively.

Details of a survey were released as the Anti-Bullying Alliance, which coordinates Anti-Bullying Week each year in November, said staff must be better equipped at tackling bullying to lessen the serious impact it has on children.

Ofsted figures for the year to September 2023 show 2,449 parents were asked if their child has been bullied and whether the school dealt with the bullying "quickly and effectively".

Of the 803 parents that said the question was relevant to them, 33 per cent disagreed or strongly disagreed that the school handled the bullying effectively.

Robert Poole, Assistant District Secretary for Bolton National Education Union (NEU) said: “The NEU is deeply concerned about the recent Ofsted figures showing that a significant number of parents in Bolton are dissatisfied with their child's school's handling of bullying.

The Bolton News: “We believe that every child deserves to feel safe and supported at school, and it is clear that more needs to be done to address this issue in schools.”

He says that there are a number of factors that could be contributing to the problem, including a lack of resources and support for schools.

He added: “We also believe that the current culture of high-stakes accountability is putting too much pressure on schools to focus on academic achievement at the expense of the well-being of their pupils.

“It is positive to see that the vast majority of parents did not report that their children were unhappy and unsafe which speaks towards the excellent job that educators in Bolton do despite the pressures on them from above.”

Across England, 32 per cent of parents said their child's school did not deal with bullying well.

The data covers private and public nurseries, primary schools, secondary schools and special schools.

Martha Evans, director of the Anti-Bullying Alliance said bullying behaviour is a "persistent problem" in schools.

She added: "We know that almost a quarter of children say they are being bullied frequently face-to-face, so it is unacceptable that understanding how to deal with bullying isn’t a mandatory part of initial teacher training.

"There are many examples of school staff who do a great job for the children that rely on them, but we must do more.

"If we get better at equipping staff to root out the problem, take a whole-school approach to tackling bullying, and make sure there is a senior teacher leading the way, then the serious implications of being bullied can be lessened."

The figures also showed 11 per cent of parents across England said their children were not happy in their school and 9 per cent did not feel safe in the schools.

In Bolton, 12 per cent of parents said their child was not happy at their school while 10 per cent said their kid did not feel safe.

David Johnston, minister for children, families and wellbeing said: "Bullying is never acceptable, which is why this government is committed to working with schools to create good behaviour cultures and to improve approaches to tackling bullying.

"We’ve created behaviour hubs across the country, included teaching respect and inclusivity as part of the RHSE curriculum and provided more than £3m of funding to anti-bullying organisations to support their vital work."

If you have a story and something you would like to highlight in the community, please email me at jasmine.jackson@newsquest.co.uk or DM me on Twitter @JournoJasmine.