How is bullying dealt with with no 'proof'

[workiskillingme]

For instance my son is getting targeted by a lad in his class who gets other kids to join in and tells them not to play with my son despite him never having any issues with these other kids
I witnessed this unkind behaviour with said child refusing to line up behind mine and running away from him and telling another boy to this morning. Thing is can teachers actually do anything if they haven't seen it for themselves?
I am tempted to speak to this boys mum but I don't want the problem to get worse

Speak to the teacher. They know that unkindnesses like this happen in class. They might deal with it initially by having a class lesson on kindness and friendships. If it continues I would expect the teacher to have a word with all the children involved. You don't need "proof".

Dont approach the mum, that puts you in the wrong

As a teacher then yes we can do something. Phone or email the school to let the teacher know. She will speak to your son and ask him what’s going on. Encourage him to tell the teacher honestly and not to worry about anything. The teacher will then speak to the other children and then decide what happens next.
I have had this exact situation in which the child was worried to tell me incase I thought they were lying and incase the bullying got worse. I would never dismiss
any case if bullying- if the teacher is similar then they will start to keep an eye out on how this other child is behaving around your son and will encourage playground support assistants to do the same during breaks.

Also, do not speak to the other mum first. This might end up backfiring with the other mum contacting the school to say you’re harassing her and that your son is treating hers badly.

You saw it. So that's evidence. Your son can tell teachers about it. So thats taken as evidence.

Feed everything you know to the teacher in a factual manner and ask them to look into it.

Don't speak to the parent.

Again, as another pp said, the teacher will do some lessons on kindness and bullying.

Okay I won't speak to the mum (who incidentally is lovely ) I know in my mind it's a really bad idea but I was just feeling distraught earlier

My son is 13 and in year 8. Last year I had to move him to a different high school as the bullying he got was so bad. This year the same patterns are occuring, a group of kids seem to have targeted him and he is again losing sleep and very anxious about attending school. I'm concerned about his mental health. I am trying to deal with this with the school but they take so long to resolve anything and in the meantime I have a child that is too scared to go to school.
Because this happened before he now thinks that it's his fault, and that there is something wrong with him, I am fully trying to reassure him this isn't the case but it's so heartbreaking to see him like this. Anyone else going through or been through the same thing?
Jen x

That sounds so awful
These schools have a lot to answer for

I posted this in the wrong place so apologies. But they sure do!