A mother has told how her disabled daughter was bullied out of her primary school by a “terrifying” child.

Nine-year-old Lacey Nethercott was taken out of Woodingdean Primary School by her worried mother Michelle who told how her daughter endured three years of harassment and physical violence.

On one occasion Ms Nethercott claimed Lacey, who is profoundly deaf, was punched so hard by her tormentor that her hearing aid fell out.

She said: “Lacey often came home and said she had been hit so hard it felt like her skin was breaking. She was afraid to go to the toilet in case the girl followed her.

“But the teachers didn’t do anything.

They just gave her a Thought Book so she could write down her feelings, which didn’t help at all.

“I blame the school, not the bully.

"She’s too young to know what she’s doing, but the school have completely failed my child by not taking action.”

MORE:

Headteacher Jonathan Whitfield admitted staff were aware of “unfortunate incidents” but said all allegations had been dealt with properly.

Yet even after Lacey moved to another school in Brighton, her ordeal continued when the bully began sending nasty Facebook messages to her mother.

Ms Nethercott said: “Lacey was next to me when the messages popped up so she saw them. It was terrible.

“I feel so stupid having to block a little girl from my Facebook but I don’t know what else to do.

“I couldn’t believe she’d been able to find me. She’s so young but she’s quite scary.”

Sussex Police confirmed they were investigating a report of online harassmentmade by Ms Nethercott.

Another parent, Ian McQuade from Woodingdean, said he took three of his daughters out of the school after they were all attacked by the same bully.

He said: “All my daughters were terrorised by this girl for months.

“She stabbed one of mydaughters in the head with a fistful of pencils.

My daughters said they didn’t want to go back so I moved them all to another school.

“I just don’t think the school is taking this seriously enough.”

But headteacher Mr Whitfield insisted the allegations had been taken “very seriously indeed”.

He said: “Our recent Ofsted report said pupils feel safe at school. That’s there in black and white.

“The difficulty is that the parents of bullied children often don’t see what action has actually been taken.

“These are unfortunate incidents but as a school we have a responsibility towards every child that comes here.

“That includes the bully as well as the victim.”