A THIRTEEN-year-old girl is already dreading the start of next term because bullies have made her life at school a torment.

Emma Smith has recorded 24 of the most serious incidents - including one when she was almost pushed out of a first-floor window - in a diary since she started at Elgar Technology College, in September, 2001.

The abuse she says she has endured at the Bilford Road school includes being slapped, hit with tree branches, sworn at, and having stones thrown at her dad's car.

On four occasions Emma's parents, Colin and Jane, have kept her at home, fearing for her safety.

Now, after missing almost three months of school in two academic years, they believe the damage to her education and social life can never be repaired.

"I've been to see her head of year and he says it's being investigated, said Mrs Smith, who works at Homebase, in Blackpole Road, Worcester. "But this has been said all along.

"They say they have an anti-bullying policy but, whatever it is, it's not working.

"I've sent my two oldest daughters to the school and, educationally, I have no problem at all. But I'm at the end of my tether. We can't look after Emma while she's at school, and it's making her life a misery."

The attacks, which have become daily, are so upsetting that her parents are refusing to send her back for the new term in September.

"It has come to the point where we're sitting and waiting for a call to pick her up from A&E," said Mr Smith, who works at the Royal Worcester Porcelain Works, in Severn Street, Worcester.

"We're going to speak to the local education authority, and then we're going to speak to our solicitor."

Tony James, the headteacher at Elgar Technology College since January, said cases of bullying were dealt with individually.

"We don't comment on specific cases, but we do have a strict anti-bullying policy," he said.

"A great deal of time is spent examining any reported incidents, but some prove more complex than others."

Worcestershire County Council's director of education, Julien Kramer, said the report surprised him.

"I was in the school recently and it was a very calm, orderly and well-run place," he said. "We're very clear that we won't tolerate bullying and I know the headteacher will tackle any issues immediately."