BULLYING is an ever-present problem in schools across the country and the latest angle of attack on the scourge has come from nine Anti-Bullying Alliance (ABA) co-ordinators. Dan Kendrick discovers why the scheme has been given a lukewarm reaction.

WITHIN days of the Anti-Bullying Alliance's latest initiative being launched, dissenting voices can be heard.

The £570,000 project has provided nine regional co-ordinators to work alongside schools and social services in dealing with bullying.

The idea is to promote "mentoring" by older pupils, counselling and assertiveness training among students, while offering extra resources and information to schools.

The advice would be tailored to each school and the "40 different methods" for dealing with bullying will be clearly laid out.

The introduction of the scheme follows increasing calls from parents and children's groups for more to be done to stop bullying in schools.

Only last month, 13-year-old schoolgirl Laura Rhodes of South Wales, committed suicide, leaving behind a letter describing her abject misery at being bullied.

Worcestershire's ABA representative, Adrienne Katz, said the scheme would help establish safer learning environments for kids.

"I look forward to working with LEAs, schools, community groups and children," said Ms Katz, chief executive of Young Voice.

"The aim is to establish a regional anti-bullying network, to ensure that national resources are available regionally.

"Ultimately, we want all children and young people to feel safe and protected, to develop, grow, learn and play in a secure environment."

Gill Frances, director of the National Children's Bureau and co-founder of the ABA, said universities, voluntary organisations, the Government and many private companies were already behind the scheme.

But Liz Carnell, director of the charity Bullying Online, said the idea of big business being involved in bullied children was not a welcome one.

She also feared the scheme would prove a "waste of money" after five of the nine co-ordinators already work for their local LEA.

"LEAs already help schools deal with bullying and advise them on strategies, so LEAs will be paid twice for simply doing their job," she said.

This is not so in Worcestershire, where Ms Katz works for the children's charity Young Voice, but question marks have still been raised about the scheme.

In many county schools the proposed methods of dealing with bullying are already in place.

Clive Corbett, headteacher at Pershore High School, said the matter needed to be constantly monitored and addressed - but there were other ways of going about it.

"Every school has bullying problems, but each school needs to have the resources to deal with its individual issues," he said.

"I am always slightly concerned about these national policies. A lot of money is put into glossy launches when it could be used for education, training and counselling at the sharp end.

"Of course, the idea behind the scheme is right but if you give us the same money we can deal with the specific problems that are in our school."

Already Year 10 students receive training so that, in their final year at the Station Road school, they offer a confidential peer counselling service to youngsters.

There is also a group of Sixth Formers who act as a student support team, in addition to the heads and assistant heads of each year and form tutors.

"The support service is not just about bullying - there is bereavement and relationship counselling for pupils, and a school nurse," Mr Corbett added.

"In November a staff training day is specifically aimed at pastoral care so we are aware of these issues.

"If the new scheme is going to offer better training to our staff then great, but I suspect that, given the money, we could manage it just as well."

The willingness to tackle bullying will be universally applauded, but the idea of filtering money and expertise from the DfES to schools - via regional co-ordinators, social services, LEAs and other agencies - seems to miss the point.

The "sharp end" is where bullying is taking place and that is where £570,000 would make the difference.

Gold plated marks for top students

THE nation's top students will be given ''gold-plated'' super A-Levels in the biggest shake-up of the examinations system in more than half a century.

The new A* and A** grades have been recommended, following complaints from especially able students who have felt frustrated by the limitations of the present system requiring specific answers and therefore limiting their creativity.

There have also been concerns raised that so many students are getting top A-Level grades that universities are finding it hard to identify the most gifted pupils.

Ministers are known to be sympathetic to the idea, but it has not been revealed yet whether brighter students would sit an extra exam or answer different questions.

All students over 14 would also be expected to demonstrate they understood the basics of maths, literacy and information technology as part of a shift which will see GCSEs and A-Levels form part of a new diploma for school leavers.

The move - outlined in the Tomlinson report - is being made to tackle complaints from employers over school-leavers not being able to calculate or read properly.

The Tomlinson report was produced in a bid to tackle the falling numbers of youngsters staying on in higher education and the perceived ''dumbing down'' of secondary education.