I hate to have to say this, but I have known a woman bullied in her sheltered housing by other inmates who thought she shouldn't be there, and a local warden to my new home said that it isn't unusual. Nice thing to look forward to.

It is the women who perpetrate this stuff. Female relational bullying it is called. I've not come across an answer while teaching. Unlike the male bully (and persistent Flashman, Steerforth, Malfoy bullies are rare, while many boys may bully sometimes) children want to be in the in group of the female bully. She may be admired, as well as "attracting" girls who don't want to be the victim next week. I very much doubt if the parents would recognise that their little princess is anything but. I have heard that in secondary schools teachers will not oppose the bullying because if they do, the ring leader will turn her gang to disrupt the class.

Once in work and adulthood, her habits get fixed, and so on to age... she needs to be dealt with in school, and I haven't the foggiest idea how.

Penny