My DS started a new primary school in the middle of a school year last year and we were concerned that he would find it hard to make friends because he was coming in late. However, he quickly formed a friendship with another child who also seemed to be on his own. As the friendship has developed, my husband and I have gotten to know the parents and, although we thought they were quite strange, we just dismissed a lot of their odd behaviour and parenting style as different horses for different courses. However, as time has gone on, and we know more about them, we can see that they are just unpleasant people. They regularly say cruel and uninformed things about the other children in the class and their child also repeats nasty things which they have said about my DS to my child and this is affecting his self confidence. Recently, my DS has started to form new friendships in the class, which we were relieved about, but the parents of the original friend are trying to sabotage these new friendships out of spite and I guess because they are concerned that their child will be on their own again. They are doing this by organising parties and play dates with the new friends and not inviting my DS. Of course, the kids discuss the events at school (and we live in a small village where everyone pretty much knows each other and what is going on) and my DS is very upset to have not been included. I think they are also telling the other parents that my DS is a bad influence and badly behaved, which he is not. The school also confirm that he is kind and thoughtful and well-behaved. Their child has a very strict and controlled upbringing in terms of how he is disciplined and what he is and isn’t allowed to do and I have even had to ask the parents not to scold my child for things that they perceive he is doing wrong and which I think is just the normal behaviour of a five year old. They also keep saying things like Father Christmas/the tooth fairy etc don’t exist in front of my child and I feel really angry about this. In conclusion, the parents of this child seem to have embarked upon an organised attempt to push my child out of his friendship group and damage his confidence. My husband wants to get them round and confront them about this, but knowing these parents, I think it will make them worse and the trouble will escalate. I have tried to limit the time my child spends with their child, but they like spending time together and I don’t actually mind the child, although sometimes he does exhibit some of his parents’ nasty traits. I’m wondering if anyone has had a similar experience and has any advice on how to handle this situation. Should I approach the school for help or is this a private issue between us?