LynchHillSchoolPrimaryAcademy

Anti Bullying Policy

May 2013, Reviewed June 2014

DEFINITION

Bullying

Bullying can be defined as an intentional repeated action by those who wish to exert their power over those who are powerless to resist with the intention of causing distress for the purpose of their own gratification or gain and these may include:

Verbal Abuse – Shouting, Swearing, Threatening, Insulting, Demeaning, Belittling, Spreading Rumours, Racist, Sexist, Disability Comments

Physical Abuse - Hitting, Kicking, Pushing, Punching, Pinching, Biting etc

Sexual Abuse - Inappropriate touch, removal of clothing, physical gestures verbal suggestions

Emotional Abuse -Spreading rumours, excluding from groups, ignoring – ganging up on, encouraging others, humiliating, racist, sexist, disability comments, comments about appearance, family

Cyber bullying - Text, email, social media, chat rooms, videos, webcam

Neglectful Bullying - Bystander, Voyeurism, involved in group but not actively participating. Not reporting Adults - not dealing with problem

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

Awareness

Everyone has the right to feel safe and secure. We all need to feel free from any kind of threat of bullying or harassment and to know where to go and to whom to speak if bullying or harassment occurs

All complaints of bullying will be treated seriously and will be acted upon in accordance with practices agreed by the whole school or college community

Complaints of bullying or harassment will not be regarded as “telling tales” or unprofessional conduct

The principle of anti-bullying will be upheld and modelled by all staff

Procedures

Wherever possible, and when appropriate, young people’s and adults’ awareness of issues related to bullying and harassment will be developed through the curriculum and staff training

Assemblies, tutorials and staff training will be used, where appropriate, to reinforce the fact that bullying will not be tolerated

All members of the organisation will be informed what to do and who to go to should they observe incidents of bullying and harassment or have any reported to them

Routines

Staff and young people are to be encouraged to act promptly when bullying and harassment occur. Records will be kept of all incidents for a limited period of time

Policies should be monitored in practice and reviewed regularly. Where appropriate changes will be made in consultation with the whole school/college community

LEGAL RESPONSIBILITIES

Governors and others responsible for the care of young people and staff must be aware of the following:

The role of the Headteacher in LEA maintained schools - Section 22 of the

Education [2] Act 1986 requires the Head to determine and make known within the

school measures which, for the pupils, will:

Promote self-discipline and proper regard for the Authority

Encourage good behaviour and respect for others

Secure an acceptable standard of behaviour

Otherwise regulate the conduct of pupils

DfEE Circular 8/94 states that it is important that Heads should -

Lead in defining the aims of the school in relation to standards of behaviour

Create conditions for establishing wide agreement of those standards and how they will be achieved

Ensure that the standards are consistently and fairly applied

ROLE OF GOVERNORS/ROLE OF TEACHER

The Role of the Governors

Governors should ensure that ways of preventing bullying in their schools or colleges are outlined in the school/college written policy and included in the prospectus. Any incidents must be recorded and any racist incidents must be sent to the LA. This is a statutory requirement. The policy must be reviewed at regular intervals

The Role of the Teacher will include:

Maintain good order and discipline

Protect pupils against causing harm to others

Duty of care to exercise disciplinary control

Follow guidelines of school policy and reporting

Discuss the Anti-Bullying definition with pupils

Support anti-bullying within the curriculum and having discussions about bullying

Safeguarding pupils

Report incidents

Support school interventions

DEALING WITH BULLYING

Dealing with a Bullying Incident

The following steps should be taken whenever there is a bullying incident:

Make the recipient of bullying feel that they are valued and that the incident is seen as important

Incident should be reported

Create an environment where pupils feel comfortable and able to talk to you

Respond calmly and consistently to incidents

Use positive words that make them feel good

Ensure that all bullying is taken seriously by the school community

Listen carefully to the pupil’s, or adult’s, comments, questions, frustrations

Ensure that reasonable steps are taken to protect all parties while the school tries to resolve the issue

Do not deflect their concerns; give truthful explanations

Perpetrator should be engaged in constructive action to develop more acceptable behaviour

Acknowledge the pupil’s feelings of sadness, confusion, anger, hurt, etc.

Ensure that pupils who bully are also supported

Interventions should be monitored and followed up appropriately

Make sure that the parents/carers are aware of the incident and how it is being dealt with

RECORDING AND IDENTIFICATION OF POSSIBLE BULLYING

Bullying can thrive on secrecy. Many pupils and staff do not report bullying for fear of reprisals. They may also feel that nothing will be done to stop the bullying even if it is reported. Pupils and adults who witness bullying may be reluctant to report it for fear of becoming victims themselves. In some cases, some bullies do not often realise they are bullies.

It is therefore very important:

For all adults to be alert to some of the factors that might indicate that bullying is happening such as non attendance, withdrawn, school work decreasing or behaviour change

We work to develop an ethos where it is safe and acceptable to report incidents of bullying

All incidents of bullying will be recorded and regularly evaluated and reported to governors

Incident logs will be used to evaluate the preventative measures and intervention strategies that the school has in place. It is important, however, to ensure that records are not used in a punitive way to humiliate those involved in incidents of bullying.

All reported or observed bullying should be sufficient in depth and accuracy to effectively monitor their bullying policy

THE ROLE OF OFSTED

The OFSTED Handbook

Attitudes, Behaviour and Personal Development

Inspectors should look for evidence of any inappropriate behaviour, including harassment or bullying, by or towards particular groups of pupils.

- Report of pupils’ behaviour

Support, Guidance and Pupils and Staff Welfare

In relation to harassment and bullying, inspectors need to assess how well the school recognises and records incidents that occur, how well it deals with them and what steps are taken to prevent repetition.

- Look at anti bullying within safeguarding procedure

- Discuss with pupils about feeling safe along with care, guidance and support

Procedures for dealing with bullying should relate to school or college policies for behaviour

management, special needs, equal opportunities and child protection procedures.

ACTIONS FOR ADULTS IN SCHOOL

Be available: Break the code of secrecy. Make it known that you are ready to listen. Provide immediate support.

Listen to the child: Ask the bullied individual who was involved and how she/he is feeling

Record: Ensure the incident is recorded and that reports are collated

Respond: Ensure that your response is non-aggressive and provides models of positive behaviour. Identify pupils with long-term needs requiring specific interventions

Follow up: Review progress and evaluate interventions

Working with Parents

At LynchHillSchool we work closely with parents is on joint problem solving. The aim of such a meeting is to minimise the likelihood of further bullying regardless of whether one is talking about the child who has bullied or has been bullied. Bullying is an emotive subject; careful and sensitive planning is necessary to retain a joint problem-solving focus.

Ensure that they:

Are consulted about the bullying policy

That they know the definition of bullying

Are clear about the joint problem solving focus

Have been given sufficient notice

Know the meeting is informal but uninterrupted

Have all relevant information is available

Have an opportunity to have their say and express their feelings about the situation

Possible advice for Parents

Each situation is different, some of these might apply if your child is being bullied:

Encourage your child to talk but be patient as he/she may be distressed

Stay calm but show that you are supportive

Avoid dwelling on sensitive issues

Reassure your child that you are sympathetic and will do something about it

Try to help him/her to see the difficulty as a problem that can be solved

Ask your child if they can see ways of changing things

Talk to staff at the school about the bullying and work with them to improve the situation

Help your child to develop coping strategies

Help everyone to keep a sense of proportion in the situation

STAFF AND GOVERNORS DEVELOPMENT

Staff development is central to the anti-bullying school. Dealing with bullying is sensitive and challenging and it is essential that the staff tackle both the incidents and preventive work with an understanding of why some pupils are bullying or being bullied.

Positive action may include:

Time given to consultation on review and development of school anti-bullying policy for the whole staff

A presentation of the anti-bullying policy as part of the induction for new staff

Develop awareness of how school practices and staff behaviour can enhance or diminish pupil’s levels of self-esteem

Organise training for the role of the tutor, ensure all pupils have regular access to a listening adult

Provide opportunity for staff to develop counselling skills

Help staff to develop awareness of the underlying causes of bullying so that both bullies and victims can be constructively supported rather than punished or told that they are ‘asking for it’

In order to provide positive support in challenging situations staff may need support themselves. Schools can organise internal support/supervision between colleagues, this is particularly important for newly qualified staff

Focus on co-operation during a positive behaviour day or week.

Bullying in the work place

We recognise that adults may experience bullying from colleagues or parents. In this instance it is important to record all incidents and report to line manger or SLT.

WHAT SUPPORT IS AVAILABLE FROM THE LOCAL AUTHORITY?

The Local Authority Department is committed to working in partnership with schools and utilising the different skills and approaches of each service, bringing together their expertise to offer and develop strategies to tackle bullying in a positive way.

Note: Educational Psychology Service [EPS]

Parent Partnership (PP)

Raising Achievement Service (RAS)

Services Supporting Behaviour [SSB]

No. / What Support is Needed? / Available from
1 / Work on a one to one level with pupils who are being bullied or are identified as being bullies.
- identify what the underlying issues are
- identify patterns of behaviour
- develop strategies to change behaviour / SSB
2 / Support schools in resolving particularly complex and persistent bullying problems / EPS, SSB
3 / Support families who have children who are being bullied or bullying. / PP
4 / The development of programmes within PSHE that look at some of the issues around bullying. Workshops could include:
- feelings around bullying
- why people bully
-self esteem
- assertiveness / SSB, RAS
5 / Inset days or training staff to identify bullying, raise awareness and develop strategies for schools. This could include:
- challenging behaviour
- working with conflict constructively / SSB, RAS
6 / Support for anti-bullying week / SSB, RAS
7 / Peer mentor and anti bullying mentor training / SSB, RAS

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