Matt's 11-year-old daughter has been bullied daily at school for the past three years.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
She has been called names like "fat pig" and "fat piece of ....", had water spat in her face and constantly been told she will be "taken down" with martial arts moves.
Eventually she told her father she "didn't want to be here anymore".
Matt and his partner have followed all the right procedures and contacted the school every time it happened - but nothing ever changed.
"They just didn't deal with the situation at all," Matt said.
"But there was always something happening. It was merry-go-round stuff."
Matt said the school eventually told him: "We may not be able to stop the bullying but we can deal with it", which left him flabbergasted.
He also said the bully was rewarded for bad classroom behaviour by being allowed to play computer games whenever he played up, instead of being disciplined.
He said the school did not have an anti-bullying policy on either its website or anywhere around the school.
"It's not even mentioned on their website and I've looked on all the notice boards."
The final straw came in July this year when his daughter's class went on an excursion and her photograph was allegedly taken by her bully using a school iPad - which were banned from the trip.
It is believed her photograph was sent to at least one child from another school, and Matt fears it was also distributed on social media.
"That is actually breaking the law."
Matt said his daughter hates school and wants to be removed but "we shouldn't have to".
"It has been the school's total lack of any positive reinforcement or action that has, and currently still sees, (my daughter) and other students subjected to cruel and unwarranted bullying, all at the hands of the same student," Matt said.
"The school is continually failing in its duty of care towards (my daughter) over a long period of time. (My wife) and I, as a family, are left to deal with the fallout of a once much happier child before they are bulled to the point of giving up and hating life."
Matt's daughter has since been offered counselling by the school and the school finally emailed him it's anti-bullying policy on August 11.
However, it was only ratified at a school council meeting on August 10, meaning there has been no bullying policy in place prior to then.
Matt has contacted the Catholic Education Office, the Ballarat diocese and even the parish priest but has received no response.
"The ombudsman will be the next in line," he said.
* Cate's daughter is friends with Matt's daughter and was also subjected to name calling and being spat on by the same bully for nearly a year.
"My daughter is quite assertive and she was getting quite upset by the bullying but that's why they kept doing it because they knew they could get a rise out of her," Cate said.
"Every day I'd come to work and wonder how long it would be until I got a phone call from the school to come and pick her up.
"I was up there daily by the end of it."
Cate said she eventually removed her daughter from the school just to stop the bullying cycle.
"She loved school and I told her she was the bravest person I know because she knew what was going to face her but she'd still take a deep breath, put a smile on her face and go to school regardless."
However, Cate said the school focused too much on trying to change her daughter's behaviour, not the perpetrator.
"They were more focused on making the kids on the receiving end more resilient.
"But if my child was affecting someone else I would want to know as a parent.
"It baffles me why they are not taking to task the kids doing the bullying.
"They are trying to change the behaviours of the victims, not the bully."
Cate said the school's solution was to move her daughter from the class to try and prevent her getting upset by the bullying behaviour.
Cate said she had no idea if the school ever disciplined the bully or had discussions with his family.