He was attacked by another eight-year-old in the Edney Primary School playground in High Wycombe last Wednesday.

Photos show Mason Farmer managing a big smile in the back of the ambulance, still in his school uniform after the attack.

“He was tackled to the ground, headfirst, and he had knees laid into his head, his neck his back,” mother Erin Farmer said.

Another year 3 student set upon Mason because he was making mouth noises, a coping strategy because he lives with autism.

“Physically he’s fine now. Mentally though, no,” Farmer said.

“Mentally he’s really struggling.”

Parents at Edney Primary today spoke out in desperation, saying bullying was getting out of control.

“She’s been physically hit, she’s come home with bruises,” mother Alyce Sutherland said. 

“When we ask her what’s happened she says ‘I don’t want to say, Mum’, and then when she finally gets the courage to say, she goes ‘please don’t say, Mum, I don’t want it to get worse’.”

Mel Bloor, another parent, said her son used to love going to school.

“It is now a constant struggle getting him to school,” she said. 

“He will then come home and he’s not the same child.”

But they don’t blame the school, they’re calling on the Education Department to do more.

“They have gone through as many things as they can to try and help the child, help the students, keep everyone safe within their powers,” Farmer said.

“They don’t have a lot of power and they don’t have enough resources.”

Education Minister Sabine Winton condemned the bullying, saying she was committed to reducing violence in schools and supporting teachers. 

She also offered to meet with Mason’s family.

The Education Department schools deputy director general Steve Watson said the issue didn’t just fall on schools.

“We need the cooperation of families and the wider community,” he said.