The number of Queensland Prep students being suspended or expelled has almost doubled in four years, with experts and parents warning the problem of schoolyard bullying is exploding among the state's youngest students.

By the numbers: Australia has an estimated 543,000 bullies

Australia has an estimated 543,000 bullies They cause more than 45 million incidents each year

They cause more than 45 million incidents each year About 910,000 students are bullied every year in Australia

About 910,000 students are bullied every year in Australia Victims are bullied about 50 times a year, more than once for every week they're in school. Source: Statistics from the National Centre Against Bullying

Since 2013, more than 4,300 children have been suspended or excluded from Prep and almost 9,000 have been forced to go home while in Year 1.

Last year alone, 1,027 Prep students and almost 2,000 Year 1 pupils have had to leave school for bad behaviour, which includes physical violence.

Sunshine Coast mum Ashleigh Knox is not shocked by the figures, but she was devastated when her child became a target.

Ms Knox fears the bullying of her six-year-old daughter will only get worse. ( ABC News: Owen Jacques )

Her six-year-old daughter, who the ABC has chosen not to name, has been physically attacked at school, taunted, and even suffered a racial slur, her mother said.

"She was such a spark of a little girl, full of fire, full of fun — never wanted to miss a day. That slipped," she said.

"She became withdrawn, she was unhappy and she didn't want to go to school."

But worse she says, has been the emotional abuse from other girls in her grade.

"Things all pretty much started when the girls were calling her lunch disgusting and that it was poison.

"The girls were specifically pointing out her lunch saying it was disgusting poison."

A little girl's world falls apart

The six-year-old soon refused to eat at school.

"I learned about it after about the third day, I realised her lunch hadn't been touched and she was coming home crying to me, saying these are the things these girls are saying to me and how it made her feel," she said.

"She felt quite upset. She felt like she couldn't eat at school."

This was not the only incident.

During NAIDOC Week in July this year, her daughter was excited to give a presentation about her Indigenous ancestry.

Not long after, the racial slurs began.

Ms Knox said she spoke to the teacher and they agreed to speak to the class about it.

"And that's how things got left," Ms Knox said.

The single mother of two thought about changing schools, but while she says her daughter is a target, she also has friends. She wondered if a new school would just mean new bullies but fewer friends.

The death of Dolly Everett after sustained bullying has raised awareness about the danger of abuse at school. ( Facebook: Akubra )

Ms Knox is not alone in feeling helpless.

Despite the community focus — particularly after the tragedy of teenager Dolly Everett taking her own life this year — experts say the situation is not improving.

The spectre of suicide from bullying looms large in the Knox home. Recounting the incident brings Ms Knox to tears.

"She came home one afternoon and just locked herself in a room and cried all afternoon," Ms Knox said.

"It wasn't until that she looked at me and said 'Mum, I just don't feel like I'm fit for this world'.

Ms Knox said she isn't calling for the children who bullied her daughter to be suspended or expelled, she just wants it to stop.

But she worries that might be too much to ask.

"I have a feeling that as she grows, things will only get worse as bullying does," Ms Knox said.

Why six-year-olds are saying, 'I can't go on'

Jonathon McLoughlin from mental health group Artius works with young people — both the bullies and the targets.

"We're starting to see kids younger and younger presenting with suicide ideation," he said.

"I see six or seven-year-olds who say they want to kill themselves. It's really daunting."

Ashleigh Knox worries that her daughter may face more bullying as she moves into higher grades. ( ABC News: Owen Jacques )

Mr McLoughlin while some children may not understand the gravity of what they're saying, parents and staff react quickly to protect them.

Bullying is no longer a scuffle in the schoolyard or a swear word uttered in anger, he said.

"It's becoming more and more sophisticated," he said.

"The rise of cyber bulling and other bullying types is leading towards a larger, scarier system because it now doesn't get left at the schoolyard.

"It's not stopping at the playground anymore. It's now becoming a 24-hour thing which is scary to think of."

'A really difficult challenge for our teachers'

Queensland Teacher's Union president Kevin Bates said there was "no doubt" teachers were facing more violence and misbehaviour than they did 30 years ago.

He said the brutality of bullying shouldn't surprise people because children were learning it from the society that surrounds them.

"Children are violent because the world is violent" Queensland Teachers Union president Kevin Bates says. ( Supplied )

"It's a feature that's developed as a consequence of increasing violence in our community," he said.

"That's spilling into our schools — what our young people see and experience in the community they bring into the school and into the classroom.

"That's a really difficult challenge for our teachers to manage."

The Education Department's policy states it has "zero tolerance" for bullying in Queensland schools.

"Any situation that threatens the safety and wellbeing of students is treated extremely seriously," a spokeswoman said.

State school kids can access programs designed to help, including chats with their guidance counsellor.

Mental health groups are also working with schools to build strategies for students and teachers to help kids find a safe area on the grounds.

Schools are also now building specific plans for children, with help from parents, to support kids who become the target of bullies.

"These programs are regularly reviewed to ensure they remain on track to meet the student and their family's support needs," she said.