Anti-Bullying Policy

 

School statement

 

Everyone has the right to live, work and learn in an atmosphere that is free from fear or threat.

 

The school aims to provide a safe, secure and caring environment where all can work and learn to the best of their ability without anxiety or hurt.

This school believes that:

• Bullying is always unacceptable.
• Bullying is a problem to which solutions can be found.
• Seeking help and being open are signs of strength not weakness.
• All members of the school community should be listened to.
• It is our responsibility to ensure that we do not abuse or bully others.
• Young people should talk to an adult if they are worried about bullying and have a right to expect that they will be listened to.
• All members of our community, pupils, parents and staff, have a duty to work together to protect vulnerable individuals from bullying and from other forms of abuse.

 

1. What is bullying?

 

Bullying is the repeated use of any type of aggression, generally involving an imbalance of power, and aimed at hurting another person. Bullying results in pain, distress and fear in the victim. It does not just affect the bully and the person being bullied. It damages the atmosphere in a class and the climate of a school.

 

 

 

 

Bullying can take many forms including:

 

Emotional	Being unfriendly, excluding, tormenting (hiding books, damaging personal belongings, threatening and rude gestures…)
Silent	Saying nothing, ignoring, preventing someone from participating in school life
Verbal	Name calling, sarcasm, spreading rumours, teasing, personal remarks aimed at undermining confidence
Physical	Any use of violence, pushing, kicking, punching etc and other unwanted forms of physical contact.
Against disability	Name calling, comments on appearance, ability, achievement levels
Racist	Racial taunts, graffiti, gestures, jokes, inciting others to be racist, wearing provocative clothing or badges
Homophobic	Use of homophobic language, making comments about sexuality, orientation or appearance
Sexual	Unwanted sexual contact or comments, sexually abusive comments, pornographic material, graffiti with sexual content
Text and cyber	Sending threatening or disturbing messages, misusing the telephone, the Internet (chat room, networks or mail) or associated technology such as camera and videos

 

Prevention

The school has a responsibility to help children prevent bullying. There are many methods for doing this and these may include:

• Signing and ensuring respect of the ‘EEB1 Code of Conduct’
• Creating open channels for confidential communication
• Developing awareness and monitoring by teacher
• Curriculum work on preventing bullying (stories, pictures…)
• Discussion time in class about bullying
• PSHE lessons/workshops/speakers/conflict mediation in classes

 

1. Procedures for dealing with bullying
   • Incidents should be reported following the school response chart (pending).
   • All bullying behavior or threats of bullying must be investigated quickly, dealt with thoroughly and recorded using the appropriate form.
   • In cases of bullying, where appropriate, parents will be informed and invited to participate in reaching a positive resolution of the problem. A full record will be completed.
   • Every effort will be made to stop the bullying immediately.
   • Every effort will be made to support the child/children involved.
   • Every effort will be made to help the bully(ies) change his/her behavior and understand the harm done.
   • A member of the Counselling Team or the school psychologist may be asked to intervene.
   • If necessary and appropriate the police or other agencies will be informed.

 

2. Outcomes

• The bully (bullies) will be required to stop the bullying behaviour, acknowledge the harm caused and where appropriate may be asked to apologise.
• If possible pupils will be reconciled.
• Sanctions may be used in line with the school policies.
• In some cases suspension or exclusion may be considered
• Following the resolution of the problem, measures will be taken to help all involved to feel that they are valued members of the school community.
• After an incident has been investigated and dealt with the case will be monitored to ensure it is not repeated.

Our policies must allow staff the discretion to respond flexibly to each specific incident. A full range of sanctions can be used but there will be occasions when a problem solving approach may be the most appropriate.