This policy will help staff to achieve the vision of the school, which is that the staff and TLC Members at Minerva Primary School – Growing together, making the impossible…possible’. This will ensure that the school provides an environment where every child can feel:
To help eliminate bullying and child-on-child abuse we will ensure that children are taught:
To protect the rights of all children to have a safe and secure learning environment Minerva Primary School will continuously work towards preventing acts of bullying, harassment, and other forms of aggression and violence as these behaviours are unacceptable and interfere with both our school’s ability to educate children and a child’s ability to learn. If such a case arises, the staff at Minerva Primary School will follow the anti-bullying guidelines laid out in this policy. This will enable staff to:
Bullying is defined as repeated negative behaviour that is intended to make others feel upset, uncomfortable or unsafe.
Abuse is something which usually physically or emotionally hurts another person by using behaviour that is meant to scare, hurt or upset that person.
This form of abuse is when there is any kind of abuse or bullying between children/young people both on and offline.
This is sending inappropriate pictures, videos or messages – they can sometimes be called ‘nude pics’, ‘rude pics’ or ‘nude selfies’, but can also be rude messages. Pressuring someone into sending these pictures, videos and messages is abuse. It is illegal to have these kind of pictures or videos of a person if they are under 18 years old.
Cyber-bullying is the use of technology such as mobile phones, email, chat rooms or social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter to harass, threaten, embarrass, intimidate or target a child. Unlike physical bullying, cyber-bullying can often be difficult to track as the cyber-bully (the person responsible for the acts of cyber- bullying) can remain anonymous when threatening others online, encouraging them to behave more aggressively than they might face-to-face.
All children have upsets and squabbles; these are not classed as bullying and are dealt with through the Behaviour Policy. Actions not considered to be bullying are:
Some reasons why children might bully someone include:
All forms of bullying cause psychological, emotional and physical stress. Each child’s response to being bullied is unique; however, some signs that may point to a bullying problem are:
The Education Act 2002, Education and Inspections Act 2006 and Equalities Act 2006 all make reference to a school’s legal responsibility to prevent and tackle bullying. By law, all state schools must have a behaviour policy in place and displayed on their website and must also follow anti-discrimination law. This means staff must act to prevent discrimination, harassment and victimisation within the school.
Minerva Primary School has also developed this anti-bullying and child-on-child abuse policy, a copy of which is available from the school office and on the school website for parents, staff and pupils to access when and as they wish.
Schools have the legal power to make sure pupils behave and do not bully outside of school premises, for example on public transport or in nearby public communal areas. If seen as appropriate the Head of School (HoS) or staff can choose to report bullying to the police or local council. During school hours, including while pupils are taking part in school visits, after school clubs and cyber bullying the school has direct responsibility to ensure children feel safe and secure.
The TLC supports the HoS in all attempts to eliminate bullying from the school. The TLC will not condone any bullying at all, and any incidents of bullying that do occur will be taken very seriously and dealt with appropriately.
The TLC monitors incidents of bullying that do occur and reviews the effectiveness of this policy regularly. The members of the TLC require the HoS to keep accurate records of all incidents of bullying and to report to the members of the TLC on request about the effectiveness of the school’s anti-bullying strategies.
A parent/carer who is dissatisfied with the way the school has dealt with a bullying incident can make a complaint to the TLC or to The Redstart Learning Partnership (TRLP) trustees. The complaint will be dealt with in accordance with the TRLP complaints policy which can be accessed from the TRLP website.
It is the responsibility of the HoS to implement the school’s anti-bullying and child-on-child abuse strategy, to ensure that all stakeholders are aware of the school policy, and that they know how to identify and deal with incidents of bullying. The HoS will report to the TLC about the effectiveness of the anti-bullying policy on request. Although the HoS has overall responsibility, they may have nominated a staff member to implement the anti-bullying and child-on-child abuse policy.
It is the HoS (or designated member of staff) who must ensure that all children know that bullying and child- on-child abuse is wrong, and that it is unacceptable behaviour in school. The HoS will draw the attention of children to this fact at suitable moments. For example, the HoS may decide to use an assembly as the forum in which to discuss with the children why bullying is wrong.
The HoS will ensure that all members of staff receive sufficient training to be equipped to identify and deal with all incidents of bullying and child-on-child abuse.
The HoS will set the school climate of mutual support and praise for success, so making bullying and child- on-child abuse less likely. When children feel they are important and belong to a friendly and welcoming school, bullying is far less likely to be part of their behaviour.
Members of staff will do all that they can to eradicate bullying and child-on-child abuse; they will ensure that they follow the school’s anti-bullying and child-on-child abuse policy.
All members of staff will routinely attend training that equips them to identify bullying and child-on-child abuse to follow school policy and procedures with regard to behaviour management.
Staff will use a range of methods within PSHE lessons to help prevent bullying and child-on-child abuse to establish a climate of trust and respect for all. They will use drama, role-play, stories etc. within the curriculum, to help pupils understand the feelings of bullied children and to practise the restraint required to avoid lapsing into bullying behaviour. Ring fenced time will also be used to praise, reward and celebrate the successes of all children (such as celebration evenings or assemblies) and thus to help create a positive atmosphere.
Members of staff will keep a vigilant watch on suspected ‘bullies’; any incidents will be handled carefully. It is important that the child responsible for initiating the bullying is dealt with appropriately. The person dealing with the incident will need to collect all the relevant information and then provide the HoS with a copy in order that he/she can decide on an action. All cases are individual and various strategies will be employed by the HoS to address the issue.
Teachers and support staff will do all they can to support a child who is being bullied.
Incidents, where it has been deemed that a member of staff has been bullying a child, will be taken very seriously. The HoS, with the support of the TLC, will deal with this; formal action will be taken where necessary.
Such action will also be taken if it is deemed that a member of staff is bullying other members of staff.
In the event of the HoS being involved in such incidents, reports will be given immediately to the chair of governors who will also take formal action where necessary.
If you are a member of staff who is experiencing bullying (by other adults or students), you should inform your line manager, a member of the senior leadership team or your union representative as soon as possible. You can contact the TRLP trustees if you feel the situation is unresolved. For visitors to the school, any concerns should be directed to the HoS (or other appropriate member of staff).
Parents/carers, who are concerned that their child might be being bullied or who suspect that their child may be the perpetrator of bullying, should contact their child’s class teacher immediately in a calm manner. If they are not satisfied with the action taken they should contact the HoS. If they remain dissatisfied, they should follow the procedure detailed above. Parents/carers have a responsibility to support the school’s anti-bullying policy by actively encouraging their child to be a positive member of the school and this expectation of support is outlined in the home/school agreement (if they have one).
Pupils are encouraged to tell somebody they trust such as a teacher, senior leader etc. if they are being bullied, and if the bullying continues they must keep on letting people know; the children are taught several strategies to help them with this.
Pupils are also encouraged to participate fully in activities that raise their awareness about bullying in order that they clearly understand what to do if they, or another child, are being bullied.
Minerva Primary School has a separate policy related to e-safety addressing the use of mobile technology, social media, appropriate online activity, security, access and monitoring procedures in place. The ICT code of conduct is explained and discussed with pupils in assemblies, PSHE classes and IT classes.
All members of Minerva Primary School are encouraged to challenge all forms of bullying including prejudice-based bullying if they come across it.
The following steps must be taken when dealing with incidents of bullying:
This school has set procedures to follow in implementing sanctions where a bullying incident has occurred, as described above sanctions are applied in appropriate proportion to the event. In the event of all other avenues being exhausted, or in particularly serious cases that lead to exclusion, TRLP Trustees will examine the evidence that a wide range of strategies had been tried and failed to affect a positive change in the bullying behaviour.
Minerva Primary School has adopted a range of strategies to prevent and reduce bullying, to raise awareness of bullying and support victims and those displaying bullying behaviour, including:
www.bullying.co.uk
www.anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk
www.childline.org.uk
www.kidscape.org.uk
www.each.education
www.youngminds.org.uk
www.youngstonewall.org.uk
www.nspcc.org.uk
www.stoptextbully.com
www.beyondbullying.com
www.childnet-int.org
www.cyberbullying.org
www.chatdanger.com
www.thinkuknow.co.uk
