SCHOOL playgrounds are being terrorised by spoilt, middle-class bullies who are so indulged at home that they believe they are demi-gods.

“Little Miss Sunshine” and “Mr Wonderful” will threaten teachers and pupils if they do not bow to their demands as their parents have done, MPs were told yesterday.

Concern about this new breed of bully comes a week after Mick Brookes, the general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, accused parents of “loving neglect”. Mr Brookes said that some primary school children were falling asleep at their desks because their parents did not send them to bed at a reasonable time.

Michele Elliot, director of the charity Kidscape, told the Education Select Committee that indulged children were starting to dominate. “In addition to children coming from homes where bullying is basically fostered, we have found a whole other group of bullies who come from homes where they are so indulged that they go to school and they are little gods,” she said. “They think that everything revolves around them. We call them the brat bullies.”

Kidscape, which receives 16,000 calls a year to its helpline, offers courses for bullied children and their parents.

After the hearing, Ms Elliott said that her charity had found that “Little Miss Sunshine” was often a well-dressed middle-class girl who did her schoolwork. Her parents had bought her designer clothes and a television of her own, but left her emotionally neglected.

“They are spoilt and feel that the world basically owes them, and that other children should be as in awe of them as their families,” she said. “They expect all the teachers and other kids to kowtow to them. If they don’t, they start to bully the other children.” She added: “The parents of these children are pretty difficult to deal with because they do not see the children in that situation.”

Liz Cornell, who set up the charity BullyingOnline in 1999, said that she often came across middle-class parents who refused to believe that their children were guilty of bullying. She said: “Teenage girls are very manipulative, gang up on others, spread rumours or simply ignore each other. But these are not deprived kids.”

Ms Cornell, whose website received more than 337,000 visits last year, said that schools often failed to punish pupils properly. “Too many schools are using non-punitive methods or restorative justice. Bullies need sanctions.”

David Moore, a senior Ofsted inspector, told the MPs that girls were particularly vulnerable because they tended to be open about their feelings, giving bullies more ammunition.

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