The thing is bullies do much of the bullying covertly. Even in primary school they get away with it, because it's a subtle, constant put down that teachers often miss.

Having said that, it's also easy for a few teachers to almost side with the rejection in class discussions that that is more blatant. That translates to the student hiding in the library or sitting alone for lunch.

There was a move afoot at one time here in Australia, for special chairs to be placed in the playground and sad students could sit there and wait for another student to take pity on them.

Now that made me angry. That to me was putting a little plaster on a gushing wound. What were they thinking?

If a child is sitting alone, day, after day, it is every staff member's duty to deal with it. Too, too late when a child is dead. Every teacher, i n every school knows the misfit, the sad child, the child who is never lauded, the child whose ideas are never valued, the child who withdraws because there is nowhere else to feel safe.

I just do not buy that schools did not know. They did not know because they weren't prepared to stand up and be counted. They didn't care enough about a particular child.

They just didn't care.