ANTI-BULLYING POLICY, GUIDANCE AND PROCEDURES
 

SCHOOL POLICY
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Aims

a) To provide a school environment where bullying is not tolerated and students feel safe to tell someone, whether another child or an adult, if they are being bullied.

b) To promote an anti-bullying message through the academic and pastoral curriculum and to encourage all members of the school to act with tolerance, courtesy and consideration to others at all times.

Bullying and the School Behaviour Policy

This Anti-bullying policy and the school Behaviour Policy are to be seen as working towards the same end. See Appendix for Behaviour Policy - approved by Governors June 2005.

The following statements are from our Behaviour Policy and Code Of Conduct:

a) We have the right to feel emotionally and physically safe at school by respecting the rights of each individual and the school as a community.

b) Providing a safe environment free from disruption, violence, bullying and any form of harassment.

BULLYING, OF ANY KIND, VIOLATES THESE STATEMENTS AND THEREFORE WILL NOT BE TOLERATED.

 

What is Bullying?

Bullying is the deliberate, unprovoked and unjustifiable use of force, either physical or mental, by an individual or group. It causes physical, psychological or emotional pain to the person being bullied. It robs a person of their rights, their peace of mind and their self-esteem. It can happen not just once but time after time.

Some Aspects of Bullying

Bullying can be:

• Persistent
• Intimidating, fearsome, stressful
• Pre-meditated
• Intentional
• Demoralising
• Physical
• Psychological
• Humiliating, demeaning, threatening
• The use of a superior position of strength to intimidate
• A process designed to lower the self-esteem
• Carried out by individuals and by groups

 

Bullying includes:

• Name calling
• Physical violence
• Demands for money or possessions
• Hiding someone’s possessions
• Being pressured to do something you do not want to do, eg another child’s homework
• Threatening behaviour
• Spreading nasty or false rumours
• Deliberately leaving people out or not talking to them
• Teasing and tormenting a person about their social class, race, gender, personal appearance, school performance, possessions, disabilities
• Being sent unpleasant notes or made the subject of graffiti
• Being touched against your will
• Sexual harassment
• Mocking

FOR STUDENTS

What Should You Do If Bullying Is Taking Place?

If you are being bullied or you know of someone else being bullied - TELL SOMEONE. Don’t blame yourself for what has happened.

Remember:

• Tell your parents and in school tell your form tutor or any other adult you trust
• If it is urgent TELL the nearest adult. If they do not listen TELL SOMEONE ELSE. DON’T GIVE UP. IF YOU DON’T TELL, THINGS COULD GET WORSE.
• If the person you want to tell is very busy ask them when they can see you and spend some time with you.
• Walk away from any dangerous situation and GET HELP.

As well as telling, you can help stop bullying by:-

• Being friendly towards people you know are being bullied, including them in your discussion, games, break-times and lunchtimes.
• Not laughing when someone is being bullied
• Saying out loud that you don’t like what is going on.
• Not joining in.
• Letting an adult know if you see someone else being bullied

WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF YOU ARE FOUND BULLYING OTHER PEOPLE?

In every case the incident will be taken seriously and the responses can include some or all of the following:

• You will have to explain your behaviour to a member of staff
• An account of what you have done will be written down and you will have to sign it
• Your parents will be informed of the incident and invited into school to discuss the matter
• Your Head of Year will keep a record of the incident in your file for a specified period of time
• You will have to apologise to the person you bullied
• You will have to replace or repair any possessions you damaged
• You will have to do something to improve things for the person you bullied


 

Depending on the severity of the bullying incident you have been involved in one or a combination of the following will apply:

• Placed in a detention after school or at break or lunchtime
• Placed on daily or weekly report or contract
• Isolated from lessons for a limited period
• Excluded from Woodbridge High School for a fixed term or permanently
• Explain your actions to the police if you assault another student

FOR PARENTS

Things to look out for in victims of bullying:

• Regularly feeling sick or unwell in the mornings
• Reluctance to make the journey to and from school
• Money or possessions going missing
• Clothes or school bag torn
• Wanting extra pocket money for no particular reason
• Unexplained cuts and bruises
• Taking different routes to school
• Unexplained behaviour changes, e.g. moody, bad tempered, tearful
• Unhappiness
• Nightmares
• Not wanting to leave the house
• Reluctance to talk openly about school friends and playtimes

WHAT YOU SHOULD DO IF YOU THINK YOUR CHILD IS BEING BULLIED

• Calmly talk with your child about his/her experience
• Make a note of what your child says - particularly who was said to be involved; how often the bullying has occurred, where it happened, and what has happened.
• Reassure your child that he/she has done the right thing in telling you about the bullying and that there is nothing wrong with him/her.
• Encourage your child to report any incidents of bullying to a teacher immediately
• Make an appointment to see your child’s Form Tutor or Head of Year even if your child is reluctant that you do so.


WE CAN ONLY DO SOMETHING IF WE KNOW THERE IS A PROBLEM

• Explain to the teacher the problems your child is experiencing.
• Do not encourage your child to hit back. It will only make matters worse. Such behaviour could be contrary to your child’s nature. More positively, encourage your child to recruit friends. A child who has friends is less likely to be bullied.
• If the bullying only occurs outside school contact a solicitor. Ask for a letter to be sent to the bully’s parents, informing them of the legal consequences of a recurrence of such behaviour.
You should also contact us at school and we will offer as much help and support as we
can.

 

 

 

 

 

 

WHAT TO DO IF YOUR CHILD IS BULLYING OTHER CHILDREN

Many children may be involved in bullying others at some time or another. Often parents are not aware that their child is involved in bullying and may find it difficult to accept that their child could be involved.

• Talk with your child. Explain that what he/she is doing is unacceptable and makes other children unhappy
• Discourage other members of your family from bullying behaviour or from using aggression or force to get what they want
• Show your child how he/she can join in with other children without bullying
• Make an appointment to see your child’s Form Tutor or Head of Year. Explain to the teacher the problems your child is experiencing. Discuss with the teacher how you and school can stop him/her bullying others
• Regularly check with your child how things are going at school
• Give your child lots of praise and encouragement when he/she is co-operative or kind to other people

HOW THE SCHOOL WILL WORK TO PROMOTE THE ANTI-BULLYING MESSAGE

• All staff will praise and encourage co-operative caring behaviour
• We will promote positive relationships by showing, through our own behaviour, that it is better for everyone to respect and care for each other
• We will provide an environment where children feel accepted and valued
• We will promote anti-bullying strategies across the academic and pastoral curriculum

Personal and Social Education lessons are taught throughout Years 7 - 11 and are delivered by Form Tutors along with visiting speakers such as our School Nurse or Police Liaison Officer. The following topics taught are specifically designed to combat aspects of bullying:-

- Fighting and Bullying
- Friendship Patterns
– Sexual Stereotypes
- Relationships

• Staff will treat all allegations of bullying seriously and will investigate each incident. Incident Reports will be completed and forwarded to the Year Co-ordinator.

Our Year Co-ordinators work closely as a team and can monitor incidents occurring with
students across year groups.

• Every effort will be made to ensure that any sanctions imposed are fair and appropriate and that they are applied in a non-humiliating, non-bullying way.
• Staff will watch for signs of distress in students. This might show itself as deterioration of work, late arrival for lessons, hanging back when the lesson is over, regular “illnesses,” isolation, wanting to be with adults rather than peers.
• We will use school assemblies to promote this anti-bullying policy.
• Each department will, where appropriate, incorporate the anti-bullying message into their teaching.

• Every Wednesday Lunchtime ‘TNT’ (Trust and Tell) a group run by Peer Mentors and a Teacher is open for pupils to make new friends, watch films and have a have safe place if they need it.

•Every Break time except for Thursdays Peer mentors are available for pupils to talk to, get help on homework or have a safe place to reside.
• Children who are identified as victims of bullying will be counselled by staff in school and or/specialist counsellors such as the School Nurse. They will also be offered training in assertiveness and how to deal with bullies. The School Health Advisor is available to talk to students in confidence one lunchtime in the week.

• Staff will be given opportunities for training in ways to deal with students who bully and those being bullied. Knowledge gained will be disseminated to all staff.

• This policy will be available to the parents of every child attending Woodbridge High School. Parents will be expected to sign and return a slip to say that they have read, understood and agreed to it.

 

• This policy document can be translated into the appropriate language where English is not spoken at home.

• A copy of this policy will be sent to:-

all staff of the school
governors of the school
police liaison officer
school health advisor
education social worker

Parent support advisor
 

and will be available to all (teaching, non-teaching and temporary) staff working within the school

 

• All staff will receive Staff guidelines on how to deal with incidents that involve bullying.
• An Anti-Bullying statement will be displayed prominently in every classroom.
• The school Anti-Bullying policy will be a regular agenda item of meetings of Year Teams, Heads of Year and School Councils in order to monitor and evaluate the implementation of it.
• There will be a whole-school bullying survey, to ascertain the level of perceived bullying, conducted once every three years. Staff will be released to collect and collate the data and analyse the results.

 

The results of the survey will be available to all staff, governors and parents and
working parties of these groups will be set up to initiate changes to the anti-bullying
policy if the need arises.



Bibliography:

1. Bullying - Don't suffer in silence - DFEE
2. Bullying - A Positive Response - D. Tatum and G Herbert
3. Bullying - The Child's View - Jean La Foutaine
4. Tackling Bullying in Your School - S Sharp and P Smith Ed.
5. Understanding and Managing Bullying - D Tatum