It can be really distressing to discover that your child is being bullied. However hard it is, try to stay calm and listen. Your child may be really worried about talking to you about the bullying, and scared that it'll make the situation worse.

Bullying can take many forms such as physical assault, teasing, making threats, name calling or cyber-bullying. It is not the fault of the victim, many parents fear that if they take it up with the school that the problem will get worse. Racist comments are often associated with bullying.

However racism and bullying is never acceptable, and every school has an anti-bullying policy. Keeping children free of bullying and racism is part of safeguarding children from harm and Lambeth schools have a responsibility to work with you as a parent to support and protect children from bullying and racism.

The NSPCC has some tips for parents that will help you keep your children safe whether you've found out that they're being bullied or you want to make sure they know what to do it if happens to them or someone they know. The site will also give you information about what signs to look out for that your child might be bullied.

• Anti-bullying Alliance - Signs that your child might get bullied and what to do next
• Bullying UK - Advice for parents for example about bullying in younger children and bullying of disabled children
• Ace Education - Advice for parents how to tackle bullying at school
• NHS Bullying-Advice for parents
• Family Lives is a charity that runs a free and confidential 24-hour helpline for parents. Call 0808 800 2222 to speak about any parenting issue, including bullying.
• EACH - Homophobic bullying freephone Actionline and other information

‘Virtual’ bullying via mobile phone or online (eg email, social networks and instant messenger) can occur in or outside school and at all times of the day, with a potentially bigger audience, and more accessories as people forward on content at a click. The following organisations provide support for parents and children around cyber-bullying:

ChildNet International: Specialist resources for young people to raise awareness of online safety and how to protect themselves 12

Think U Know: resources provided by Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) for parents, children and young people.

Digizen: provides online safety information for parents, carers and young people.