Anti-bullying policy

Pool CE Primary School Anti-bullying Policy


Statement of Intent
We are committed to providing a caring, friendly and safe environment for all of our pupils so they can learn in a relaxed and secure atmosphere. Bullying of any kind is unacceptable at our school. If bullying does occur, all pupils should be able to tell and know that incidents will be dealt with promptly and effectively. We are a TELLING school. This means that anyone who knows that bullying is happening is expected to tell the staff.

What Is Bullying?
Bullying is the use of aggression with the intention of hurting another person. Bullying results in pain and distress to the victim.
Bullying is repeated over a period of time.

Bullying can be:
- Emotional being unfriendly, excluding, tormenting (e.g. hiding books, threatening gestures)
- Physical pushing, kicking, hitting, punching or any use of violence
- Racist* racial taunts, graffiti, gestures
- Sexual unwanted physical contact or sexually abusive comments
- Homophobic because of, or focussing on the issue of sexuality
- Verbal name-calling, sarcasm, spreading rumours, teasing

* Racist remarks etc should always be recorded and entered on the Racial Harassment termly monitoring return.

Why is it Important to Respond to Bullying?
Bullying hurts. No one deserves to be a victim of bullying. Everybody has the right to be treated with respect. Pupils who are bullying need to learn different ways of behaving.

Schools have a responsibility to respond promptly and effectively to issues of bullying.

Objectives of this Policy
- All governors, teaching and non-teaching staff, pupils and parents should have an understanding of what bullying is.
- All governors and teaching and non-teaching staff should know what the school policy is on bullying, and follow it when bullying is reported.
- All pupils and parents should know what the school policy is on bullying, and what they should do if bullying arises.
- As a school we take bullying seriously. Pupils and parents should be assured that they will be supported when bullying is reported.
- Bullying will not be tolerated.


Victims of bullying
Victims are often'different' in some way eg. race, gender, social group, physical appearance. They may be new to the class or school or may be encountering difficulties at home.
Staff must be particularly watchful for children who are timid, unlikely to fight back, loners with few or no friends, anxious or fearful children, younger children and those outside a group.

Who becomes a bully?
Bullies tend to enjoy the power they have by creating fear in the victim. They can often be victims of violence themselves. Sometimes they may be copying behaviour seen at home or on TV. Research shows that boys often bully younger children of both sexes, whereas girls tend to use verbal abuse to ostracise other girls within their peer group.
Bullies can be of any age, male or female, and from any background, culture or race.

Signs and Symptoms
A child may indicate by signs or behaviour that he or she is being bullied. Adults should be aware of these possible signs and that they should investigate if a child:
- is frightened of walking to or from school
- changes their usual routine
- is unwilling to go to school (school phobic)
- appears unhappy, anxious or fearful
- attempts to stay with adults at break times
- starts stammering
- attempts or threatens suicide or runs away
- cries themselves to sleep at night or has nightmares
- feels ill in the morning
- deterioration in school work
- comes home with clothes torn or books damaged
- has possessions go "missing"
- asks for money or starts stealing money (to pay bully)
- has unexplained cuts or bruises
- becomes aggressive, disruptive or unreasonable
- is bullying other children or siblings
- stops eating
- is frightened to say what's wrong
- gives improbable excuses for any of the above

These signs and behaviours could indicate other problems, but bullying should be considered a possibility and should be investigated.

Procedures
1. Children should tell someone they trust. This might be a friend, a member of the support staff, the school secretary, a teacher etc.
2. The trusted person should listen to the story and decide how to proceed. If help is needed the matter should be referred to the child's classteacher.
3. Parents should report any concerns about bullying to the child's classteacher, in the first instance.
4. If the bullying persists or is judged to be of a serious nature, the matter will be reported to the Pastoral Care Co-ordinator and if necessary to the Headteacher. Written records should be made.
5. In most cases parents should be informed and will be asked to come in to a meeting to discuss the problem.
6. The bullying behaviour or threats of bullying must be investigated and the bullying stopped quickly.
7. An attempt will be made to help the bully (bullies) change their behaviour.
8. If necessary and appropriate, police will be consulted.
9. The School Governors will investigate matters where it is felt that the problem has not been satisfactorily resolved by the school.


Outcomes
1. After the incident / incidents have been investigated and dealt with, each case will be monitored to ensure repeated bullying does not take place.
2. The bully (bullies) may be asked to genuinely apologise. Other sanctions may be applied as appropriate.
3. Support should be given to both victim and bully.
4. If possible, the pupils will be reconciled.
5. In very serious cases, suspension or even exclusion will be considered.

Prevention
We will use a variety of methods for helping children to prevent bullying. As and when appropriate, these may include:
- agreeing classroom and playground rules
- signing a behaviour contract
- circle time activities
- specific teaching in PHSCE
- whole school activities through drama, collective worship etc
- discussions in response to events
- use of a bully box (post box which can be used by children)
- development of a 'friendly playground'

Resources
A selection of relevant materials (books and videos) related to bullying can be found in the PHSCE section of the staffroom library.

Policy revised - September 2007 Next review - September 2009