A secondary school has been accused of ignoring a bullying problem by parents, who say they are keeping their children out of lessons for their own protection.

East Point Academy in Kirkley, near Lowestoft, is facing allegations from the parents of three Year 11 students, who they say have been plagued with abuse since before the summer holidays.

They say the youngsters have been targetted by a group of other girls who regularly intimidate them in person, threaten them with physical attacks and bombard them with cyberbullying through social media platforms like TikTok.

All three parents have said the school is failing to take the concerns seriously and they have resorted to keeping their daughters at home.

The school, which is run by the Inspiration Trust, insists dealing with bullying is among its top priorities.

The parents though say the situation has become untenable.

One said: "I'm disgusted by how the school has approached this - it started before the summer holidays and they just washed their hands of it because it was so close to the end of term.

"It has got worse and worse and is really impacting my daughter's mental health, so I've had to keep her at home."

She added that teachers had not sent any work home and that despite her presenting notes from her GP, the school had been marking the child's absence as 'unauthorised'.

Another mother said: "This is their GCSE year and they are missing out on their education because the school just won't admit there is a problem."

The parents say they have also reported their concerns to the police and to education watchdog Ofsted.

A spokesman for the Inspiration Trust said: "At East Point Academy, we encourage students and parents to report any bullying behaviour as soon as possible.

"We do not tolerate bullying in any form and all reported cases are always taken very seriously.

"We cannot comment on individual cases, however, we work closely with students, parents, and our staff to find resolutions."