FOR a Malvern primary school to have been branded "institutionally racist" was always going to be a difficult and controversial story to cover.

We tried, as we always do, to tell the story straight and to talk to as many of those involved as possible. Inevitably, with the refusal of anyone directly connected with the school to talk to us, the resulting story was in a sense going to appear slightly one-sided.

The real mistake, of course, was not a failure to speak to us but, as is pointed out this week by the county director of education Julien Kramer, the school's not explaining its actions to the panel set up by the Church of England to investigate complaints by two parents, which went on to produce the report condemning Malvern Link CE School.

In this column we tried to give some balance by explaining that the term "institutionally racist", although it carries the stigma of association with the death of Stephen Lawrence, does include 'unwitting prejudice through ignorance' which in an area where fortunately racism has not been been a big issue is understandable.

There is certainly a question of whether it is really appropriate to apply such a label to a primary school.

Nonetheless, we regard bullying as a serious issue, even without the racial undertone, and one that certainly deserved the prominent coverage we gave the story.

For too long, too many schools have viewed bullying as an unfortunate fact of school life, while generations of pupils have been brought up wondering why assault ceases to be assault when you go through the school gates?

Bullying ruins lives and should not be tolerated in any school or by any parent.