A DESPERATE Alloa mother is calling on school staff to address homophobic bullying her son has been enduring since March.

The woman, who wished to remain anonymous fearing more children could target her son, said her child has been left feeling suicidal after long months of verbal and physical abuse.

She accused staff of not doing enough to stop harassment.

The Alloa mum told the Advertiser her son became the target of threatening and homophobic language by one other child at the start of March this year, just before lockdown hit.

After pupils returned to full-time education at the end of August, the issue spiralled further out of control with a number of other pupils joining in.

The woman explained she sought to resolve the issue with the school on numerous occasions, but was recently told by staff to seek another place of education for her son because he "does not fit in".

The bullying has also taken the form of physical abuse recently with police confirming to the Advertiser that it attended an incident at the school last month.

A Police Scotland spokesman said: "We can confirm that an 11-year-old girl has been reported to the relevant authorities in connection with a disturbance at a school in Alloa."

The Alloa mother told the Advertiser: "He is constantly being threatened and homophobically abused and the school pretty much does nothing.

"[He] is now suicidal because of it."

She added: "The school have asked me today to move him to a different school because he doesn't fit in."

The Advertiser asked the council if it would refute the woman's version of events, but the local authority said it would not comment on an individual case.

The mother said: "I'm genuinely fearful that the school [staff] don't do anything to [punish the bullies] because they already said to me they don't believe in punishment, they believe in education.

"But what is that doing for my son, who is feeling this way.

"He needs to see that something is getting done, he needs to have that faith."

Asking to remain anonymous, she said: "I don't want him being targeted any more than he already has been."

Speaking of the "horrendous" incident, which saw police in attendance, she said: "It's not just my boy; it's been other kids in different classes, and it's like the school just continued to let it happen.

"I just don't know where else I can go, I'm just a desperate parent trying to get this to stop."

Responding to the Advertiser, a Clackmannanshire Council spokeswoman said: "The council takes any allegations of bullying in our schools seriously.

"However, we are unable to comment on individual cases."