An 11-year-old boy has told how he suffered a catalogue of racist abuse which forced his family to move him to another school.

Tiliai Nakau said he was picked on from the age of three because of the colour of his skin.

On one occasion, he returned home from school in Niddrie, Edinburgh with scars on his back after being beaten with sticks.

Tiliai, whose father is from Fiji and mother is from Skye, came up with a solution to the bullying himself.

He asked to go to the Queen Victoria military boarding school in Dunblane and his parents were happy to oblige.

Tiliai said the incident with the sticks took place when he was just eight.

He said: "Every day I just felt there could be a fight, even though there probably wouldn't.

"He would keep on hitting me with a stick, so I asked him to stop a couple times. I thought I'd take it off him and throw it away.

"Then because of that he got annoyed and the rest of them piled on me and got the stick and scratched it down my back."

His mum Kirsteen said: "They held him down. they kicked him in his ribs, they gouged him on his back.

"His back was just scratches and lines of blood. I was horrified."

She said racist remarks were made to Tiliai during the incident but the boys responsible were too young for the police to take action.

He faced other "scraps and fights" at his school and one girl referred to him as the "n-word."

Other pupils had scrawled racist graffiti on his jotter.

She said: "After one fight, he came home and said 'I want to go to boarding school.'"

Tiliai said he is enjoying life at his new school and hopes to go into the army or the police, dreaming of one day becoming a dog handler.

He said anyone experiencing racism should "use your head before your fists."

An Edinburgh council spokeswoman said: "We do not tolerate any form of racism in our schools.

"We work pro-actively to promote equality and highlight unacceptable behaviour to ensure that any instances, where they occur, are promptly dealt with.

"Any form of bullying is completely unacceptable and pupils and parents are encouraged to share concerns so that every child in Edinburgh gets the best possible start in life."