@ffswhatnext
Sometimes it seems like you have no other choice to do this. Schools don't do much if anything about, and some will go as far as saying there isn't bullying going on.
You go to school and some will say that somehow you have to also think about what the bully is going through. You approach the parents in desperation, who either tell you to fuck off, your kid deserved it.. Or oh no not my Tommy/Sarah they wouldn't do that. If you're lucky you will find the one who accepts it.
If no-one is prepared to confront bullies and tell them to back off, then how does it stop?
The child can only do so much for themselves. Sometimes when they fight back, so does the bully. And then what? Now the victim is facing detention and still getting bullied.
When you send your child to school you expect that they will be safe. There should be done to tackle bullies. What I don't know. But the current method isn't working.
Obviously I can go base this on my experience, but I really don't remember it being so rife. Yes, it happened, but not on the level it is today.
ALL of the above. ^
Can't believe some of the responses (from a minority thankfully,) from people who think this woman was in the wrong. And any parent who does anything similar is in the wrong too. What the fuck do you suggest people do when NO-ONE is stopping the bullies who are making your child's life hell, and having an adverse affect on their school-life, their studies, and their exam results?
As ffswhatnext said (and so have many others,) there comes a point when you have exhausted all options... Tried to get the school to sort it, tried to reason with the parents, tried asking the bullies themselves to please stop, (and been laughed at and mocked, by the parents AND the bullies.) And so confronting the bullies yourself (and sometimes their parents,) is the ONLY option left.
As I said, when I confronted the vile bullies who were bullying my DC, they never went near them again. And their mothers who were joining in with them, and used to glare at me and slag me off behind my back, started avoiding me. Once you confront people like this, they back down, because they know they've met their match.
And I don't give a shiny shit what anyone thinks about it. If it's not dealt with by anyone else, you BET I will fucking sort it myself. The mothers(s) of these bullies are quite often ex school bullies themselves, (and are sometimes still bullies - in the area they live,) and unfortunately, the apples rarely falls far from the tree.
These mothers thought they knew me. They thought I was a fragile, quiet, timid little snowflake. They were completely wrong, and were in shock when they saw I wasn't. As I said, they and their horrible bullying children, never came near me or my DC again.
When the school does naff-all about the bullies, tries to make out your DC (who is having their life ruined,) just 'needs to deal with the issue better,' or offers them 'counselling,' and says they need to stop being 'so sensitive;' and the parents of the bullies don't want to know, you have no CHOICE other than to take the matter into your own hands.
I did, and I regret nothing. And I reiterate, I don't give a shiny shit what anyone thinks.
And to anyone who is about to say 'you sound PROUD of what you did!' Yeah, I am actually. Because it stopped the bullying. You deal with things your way, and I will deal with them MY way.
As a number of posters have said, playing these bullies at their own game is the only option, when no-one else is doing anything to stop it.
You can tell who the people on here who don't have children, or DO have children, but their children have never been bullied. 
Either that, or they are teachers who work for a school who does what every other school does about bullying. Buggar-all!