BULLIES have made life such a misery for a 12-year-old York boy that his parents are considering keeping him off school until the situation is sorted out.

Sian and Ian Hodgson, of Beaverdyke, in Rawcliffe, claim their son, Wesley, has suffered persistent bullying since he started at the 886-pupil Canon Lee School in September 2003.

They say Wesley has to put up with a barrage of abuse on a daily basis. They claim this has ranged from verbal insults and name-calling, to him being attacked several times on his way home from school, when he was kicked and punched, and most recently in the school toilets when other pupils were banging on the door while he stayed inside.

Now Mr and Mrs Hodgson are so desperate to stop the abuse they say they could keep Wesley off school until something is done to end it.

The school's headmaster, Kevin Deadman, has defended its record on bullying, and said staff are working closely with Wesley and his parents and will continue to do so until the matter is resolved.

Mrs Hodgson, 40, a school cook at Headlands Primary School, said: "The whole situation makes me feel angry, powerless and frustrated.

"We are trying to do our best and reporting every incident like we have been asked, and yet the incidents just keep happening, and they seem to be happening more often.

"We are thinking about taking Wesley out of school until it's sorted because it can't go on like this - he just doesn't want to go back to school."

Mr Deadman said the school had a very strong record on bullying, but it was against school policy to discuss individual cases.

He said: "As a school we take all issues of bullying very seriously. We are working closely with the student and his parents in this and we will continue to do so.

"The school has a very strong anti-bullying strategy which received praise in our Ofsted inspection."

Last week - during national anti-bullying week - City of York Council revealed that text bullying was still on the increase in York, but bullying was down overall.

The council's annual report on bullying showed that in general it had decreased, but bullying by text and email was up by three per cent since the survey first started in 2002.

The number of youngsters using their mobiles or email to intimidate classmates in the last year went up to 18 per cent, or 443 pupils, in 2005, compared to 17 per cent 418 last year and 14 per cent or 344 in 2003.

The most common form of bullying was name-calling, with 566 pupils, or 23 per cent, being bullied in this way.

This was followed by pupils having rumours spread about them, or being hit or kicked, which came in at 11 per cent or 270 students, and 7.4 per cent or 182 pupils, respectively.

As part of the survey, a total of 2,462 Year Seven and Eight pupils from the city's 11 state secondary schools were asked for their experiences of bullying, as part of the authority's crackdown on antisocial behaviour.

Updated: 09:55 Thursday, December 01, 2005