A MUM says she has been forced to pull her 'petrified' son out of his primary school after claiming it has failed to tackle bullying issues raised in a damning Ofsted report.

Chelsea Monks, 27, insists she has complained to Leigh CE Primary School about her eight-year-old son Alfie being bullied on more than 20 occasions, including instances of him being punched, kicked and put into a headlock.

But she says staff 'were just not interested' when she went to a meeting at the school in a bid to tackle the issues.

Chelsea, of Harrow Crescent, pulled him out of the school the following day, on January 10, and has not yet been unable to find him an alternative school to attend.

She said: "Bullying at the school, particularly to my son, has been going on since he started in the infants aged four.

"It involves one particular boy and in recent times it has got much worse.

"Over the years I have complained about my son being bullied at least 20 times. He has been punched, kicked and put into a headlock just before the Christmas break.

"He spent Christmas at home crying because he was absolutely petrified at the prospect of going back.

"But despite meeting with staff at the school, on the day before I pulled him out, they were just not interested.

"Alfie is definitely not the only child targeted at the school and other parents have also complained about this boy but the other children are scared."

An Ofsted report published in October highlighted bullying problems at the Henrietta Street school, stating that 'some' children do not feel safe there and 'a number of pupils' told inspectors that they, or someone they knew, had experienced bullying.

Chelsea says the school has 'done nothing to address the issues' and she has made a complaint to the Department for Education.

But new executive head teacher Jane Chambers insists that the school has addressed the bullying problems raised by Ofsted.

Mrs Chambers said: "Previously the school’s approach to bullying was inadequate but new procedures are now in place.

"Since the school implemented its new procedures Ms Monks had been happy with the steps the school was taking and there had been no further issues reported.

"We have been working hard across the school to address the issues raised in last year’s Ofsted report and we have already seen great improvement in a number of areas, including whether children feel safe in the school.

"We would always encourage parents to talk to us about their child’s problems and seek to address them by including all affected parties.

"Although we have received no formal complaint from Ms Monks we had, we thought, been taking steps to try to resolve the issues raised by her in an appropriate way while also taking into consideration any concerns from other parties."

Following an inspection in July, the school's Ofsted report said: "A number of pupils who spoke to inspectors said that either they, or someone they knew, had experienced bullying.

"More than half of parents who responded did not consider that the school deals well with bullying.

"The school has not surveyed pupils for their views."

It added: "Some pupils feel they are not safe. They say they felt scared when they heard about the more serious behaviour incidents that have taken place in school this year.

"While the school invited the local police community officer to talk to pupils, this did not allay the fears of all the pupils.

"Some parents also say that the school does not keep children safe."

Alan Lindsay, assistant director for education at Wigan Council, said: “Following on from the Ofsted report we have been working closely with the governing body and the Manchester Anglican Diocese to address the issues raised in the report.

"We continue to be very confident in the highly skilled and supportive approaches of the executive head teacher who has a wealth of expertise and is working well with staff, pupils and the wider community to transform Leigh CE Primary School.”