The desperate words of Laura Rhodes, 13, who died of an overdose three weeks ago, should become a permanent part of the training of all social care professionals and teachers since they so eloquently sum up the extent of her despair and the blindness of those around her.

Laura wrote: "I got fatter and fatter and sadder and sadder… Everyone got meaner and meaner…I sat down [in class] and started to draw flowers, not pretty ones, dead ones, hanging lifeless, worthless, a piece of shit you throw out into the rubbish, that’s how I felt."

Laura’s parents, Michael and Yvonne Rhodes, released their daughter’s letter so that her tormentors could "understand how demoralised, belittled and helpless a bullied child feels".

Michael Rhodes said: "Laura could never have known that her letter could be used to help another child because she wrote it to exorcise her ghosts following a bad experience. She would never have imagined that anyone other than her family would be interested – we hope they are."

A survey for the Department for Education and Skills reports that 87 per cent of 12 to 15 year olds say bullying is a problem in their schools. That presents a huge challenge for head teachers since new guidelines make schools legally responsible for protecting pupils from being bullied. Most schools already have a detailed anti-bullying policy, yet the cases of pupils persecuted by their peers continues to rise – as does the number of suicides.

One advantage, in future, of professionals working together – such as in children’s centres and the extended school setting – may be the emergence of anti-bullying techniques that are more consistently effective, not least because they ought to be married to a strong commitment to children’s rights.

It is a paradox that bullies who intimidate and terrorise are themselves often "belittled" and "helpless" outside school. Tackling the problem by putting head teachers in the dock will be difficult and only undermine a school community further.

How long, for instance, will the bullying have to last? What will be classed as bullying? How will a failure to protect be defined? Far better to focus on promoting the familiar but often ignored diktat, listen to the child. Repeatedly, pupils are advised to tell an adult if they are being bullied. Often, when they do, they either go unheard or, as in Laura’s case, the listening happens too late.