Bohlevale State School student Blair Retallick is in Townsville Hospital’s intensive care unit after running in front of a school bus and into the path of an oncoming vehicle at Bushland Beach on Monday afternoon.

He suffered a fractured skull, bruised brain and lacerated liver, which doctors fear may rupture, according to local newspaper the Townsville Bulletin.

His mother Patricia told the newspaper that at the time he was run over, the youngster had been "running for his life" from a bully who had threatened him on the school bus on his way home.

She said her son had been a constant target for bullies at the school.

''Witnesses said this other boy was screaming 'I'm going to kill you' and Blair was basically just running for his life,'' Mrs Retallick said.

''It's a case of 'why, why would this happen?'. He's only eight years old and he minds his own business.''

The incident comes less than a week after Premier Anna Bligh announced the creation of the Queensland Schools Alliance Against Violence to tackle school bullying after a state government report found schools were not properly checking whether their anti-bullying programs worked and efforts to combat the problem were poorly co-ordinated.

The Rigby report, commissioned last year, said covert forms of bullying, such as deliberate exclusion and cyber bullying, were seen as the most damaging of all to the mental health of children.

The incident also follows the stabbing death of Brisbane school student Elliott Fletcher, allegedly at the hands of a 13-year-old schoolmate, however there has been no suggestion that bullying was involved in that case, which is currently before the courts.

The Retallick family told the Townsville Bulletin they complained to the school about the bullying on the morning of Blair’s accident, but were fobbed off.