NEARLY half of all children in Cheshire’s schools have experienced some form of bullying reveals a government survey.

It found that 46% of children in the county have been bullied either in or out of school and this is above the North West average of 44.3%.

The figures come from the annual Tellus3 survey which asked children and young people in year’s six, eight and 10 from 3114 schools in 145 local authorities in England how they viewed their lives and how good local authorities are at providing services for young people. The Tellus3 survey is a self completion survey designed to gather children and young people’s views on their life, their school and local area. The results of the survey were published on 28 October 2008 and a breakdown of the results were published on January 9 this year.

Chester MP Christine Russell said bullying is completely unacceptable.

She said: I think the school, the local authority and parents all need to be alert to bullying and tackle it head on.

“Every school should have a system in place to tackle bullying, and that includes both primary as well as secondary schools.

“It is the responsibility of the staff and parent governors to set up a strategy for bullying and to look out for bullying, it is also the responsibility of parents. We must also realise that bullying takes many different forms, it is not just name calling.”

“We also have to look at the methods of bullying, because those have changed, people can now be bullied through the internet and text messages.”

A County Council spokesman said: “Cheshire County Council is not complacent about bullying. We are taking steps to raise awareness and interventions through our Children's Services Anti-Bullying strategy launched in November. Events will take place later this month targeting schools to support them to deliver the Safe to Learn guidance published by the Department of Children, Schools and Families agenda.

“We would also point out that only 36% of Cheshire schools responded to the survey and the figures are lower than the national average. They do not contain all children in these age groups. Also some of our schools have won national awards for their innovative way in tackling bullying. Certainly more bullying happens outside school.”