MADAM — In her reply to my letter, Gabriel Millar does not acknowledge the special problems with bullying that arise in Steiner schools because of the belief system shared by most teachers and some families.

The Steiner belief in karma, as highlighted on Newsnight, means that a culture of allowing unchecked bullying develops, where children are thought to be victims or perpetrators as a result of previous incarnations.

Anyone finding this hard to believe need only do some research into the matter to find worldwide problems of this nature have been well documented within Steiner communities.

Sadly, this situation results in an endemic problem where, as with domestic violence, children can grow up seeing bullying as normal behaviour.

This can result in repetition later in life, such as the online bullying Ms Millar mentions.

H Saunders

Stroud