One in 10 children says they have missed school due to bullying, according to a new poll.

The survey suggests that many young people take action to avoid bullies, such as changing their route to and from school, not spending time with friends and avoiding social media.

The Anti-Bullying Alliance, which commissioned the poll, said everyone has a part to play in reducing bullying.

The poll, which questioned more than 1,013 UK secondary school children, found that almost one in three (31 per cent), said they had been bullied “a bit” with a further 4 per cent saying they had been bullied “a lot”.

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A total of 11 per cent said they had missed school due to bullying.

The impact of bullying

Around 14 per cent of those polled said they had changed their journey due to bullying, while 19 per cent had avoided spending time with their friends and the same proportion said they had avoided social media and gaming platforms for this reason.

Asked who they thought had the power to reduce bullying of children and young people, the most popular answer was schools and other educational settings with 74 per cent, followed by parents and carers (64 per cent) and children and young people (56 per cent).

The Anti-Bullying Alliance publishing the findings ahead of Anti-Bullying Week, which starts on Monday.

Young people’s recommendations to address bullying include schools recording how much bullying is taking place, and the “hotspots” where it is likely to happen, and parents and carers attempting to understand the technology that children use.

Martha Evans, director of the Anti-Bullying Alliance, said: “If one in 10 children have reported missing school because of bullying, we clearly have a problem.

“To turn this around, it’s important to bear in mind that everyone has a part to play in reducing and stemming the impact of bullying.”