THE father of bullying victim Emma Smith is prepared to give her school one more chance and send her back in September after a Government pledge to take action.

New DfES guidelines, which come into effect in September, demand closer consultation between local authorities and schools, and urged pupils to be more open about bullying.

Education Secretary Charles Clarke has called for zero-tolerance in a range of proposals designed to pinpoint offenders.

Teachers in every school will receive specialist training and inspectors will now scrutinise the effectiveness of each school's anti-bullying policy.

Colin Smith, the father of 13-year-old victim Emma - whose experiences at Elgar Technology College were featured in the Evening News last Tuesday - welcomed the move.

"If these plans go ahead as the department of education has said I think it would make a huge difference to my daughter's experiences at school," he said.

"At the moment we have no confidence for her safety if we send her back to Elgar in September, but with specially trained staff and council advisors available to the school we would certainly give it one more chance.

"The move sounds very positive and it is good news that people are starting to acknowledge the problem and react to it."

The DfES plans cover all aspects of schooling, including the role of the county's directorate of education, teachers, school councils and even the students.

"From September, there will be special training for staff in every school to help spot bullying and deal with it," said the DfES mission statement.

"Every local authority will have consultants to help schools and we will also be asking children how they think the bullies can be beaten."

The Government also urged schools to be tougher on bullies - an issue raised in the flood of calls received by the Evening News since Emma's plight was highlighted.

"We've made it clear headteachers can permanently exclude bullies, and we've reformed the appeal process so that exclusions should not be overturned," the DfES added.

Worcestershire County Council greeted the announcement with scepticism, claiming that targeting schools was an attempt to cure, rather than prevent, the problem.

"We need more direct personal responsibility rather than more Government edicts," said June Longmuir, cabinet member for education. "Schools alone cannot attempt to cure all the evils of bullying, and this country's 'blame culture' does not help."

Miss Longmuir also raised concerns over how to fund the education of increased numbers of excluded pupils.