My boy said he'd run away if I send him to that school

A MOTHER has told how her seven-year-old son said he would rather "stand in front of a train" than go back to school after being beaten-up by bullies twice in one day.

Sarah Carr said she had been forced to remove her son Dylan from Prestonpans Primary, in East Lothian, in the wake of the attacks. She also today hit out at the way the school dealt with her complaints of bullying, as the police confirmed they were looking into the attacks.

Mrs Carr said that Dylan was pushed and kicked by two older boys in the playground before school on Tuesday.

However, the school insists Dylan did not tell any of the teachers about what had happened.

Later that day, on his way home from school, the youngster was assaulted again, this time by two older girls. Mrs Carr said her son was pushed to the ground, kicked and punched and ended up "covered in blood".

It followed an incident last week when he was pushed around in the playground by two boys, with no apparent motivation.

Housewife Mrs Carr said she left four messages on the school's answering machine after she found out about her son's attacks on Tuesday, and also spoke directly to the school secretary, asking for the headteacher to call her.

After getting no response, said Mrs Carr, she went to the school the following morning to tell the headteacher she was removing Dylan from the school.

Mrs Carr, who lives in the South Grange area of Prestonpans, said: "Dylan has been very upset.

"He told me he would rather stand in front of a train than go back to that school and he would run away if I made him go back.

"I've been so scared to let him out of my sight – I even sat on the end of his bed until he fell asleep. When I told him he had a place at St Gabriel's School, he jumped up and said, 'Mummy, thank you very much, you've saved my life'. Words can't describe how that makes me feel to hear him talk like that."

Dylan's case is one of hundreds reported in Lothians schools each year. Recent figures show that in Edinburgh alone, the number of reported bullying incidents in schools was 384 last year, while the number of reported racism incidents was 289.

Mrs Carr said it was a "weight off her shoulders" to have secured Dylan a place at another school.

She has also decided to remove her twin sons John and James, who are five, from Prestonpans Infant School into St Gabriel's. East Lothian Council, however, is satisfied with the way the situation was dealt with, and says the headteacher at Prestonpans Primary did try and return Mrs Carr's calls on Tuesday afternoon.

A spokeswoman said: "

We feel that the headteacher at Prestonpans Primary did everything she could to resolve the situation but wasn't given adequate time."