School can be a terrifying experience for any child who is perceived to be in any way different. Whether it's their behaviour, appearance or determination to study that sets them apart, they risk being bullied.

The Telegraph & Argus has highlighted two particularly distressing instances of this in the last two days. In one of them, the aunt of an 11-year-old boy with learning difficulties has complained that he has been repeatedly bullied at Rhodesway School and left with physical injuries.

The school says it has a policy on bullying. In this case that policy has failed to protect Kyle Greenall, who has had to endure bullying since he was sent to Rhodesway at the start of the school year.

In another appalling incident a 12-year-old Queensbury School pupil who claims he has been bullied for several months was chased out of the school gates by what appears to have been a shouting mob of up to 100 pupils and had to be rescued by a passing ambulance driver. Again, the school has defended its record over bullying.

This sort of victimisation must be driven out of Bradford's education system. It would help if those running the schools did more to get their act together. It is disgraceful that the Council scrutiny commission set up to look at the issue this week reported finding a "complete lack of co-ordination" with no survey yet carried out among young people in Bradford to find out even how big an issue it is.

There can be no doubt that this is a significant, shameful problem and one which needs to be tackled with a great deal more urgency.