Anti-bullying guidelines

The school believes that everyone has the right to enjoy school life and is committed to ensuring that students are able to learn, work and socialise in a supportive, caring and safe environment without the fear of being bullied. Bullying is never acceptable and will not be tolerated. The school seeks to establish a positive environment by encouraging standards of behaviour that promote a sense of responsibility for the welfare of others. 

What is bullying?

Bullying is defined as persistent behaviour by an individual or group with the intention of verbally, physically, or emotionally harming another person or group. 

Bullying is generally characterised by:

• Repetition: Incidents are not one-offs; they are frequent and happen over a period of time.

• Intent: The perpetrator(s) mean(s) to cause verbal, physical or emotional harm; it is not accidental.

• Targeting: Bullying is generally targeted at a specific individual or group.

• Power imbalance: Whether real or perceived, bullying is generally based on unequal power relations.

Many different kinds of behaviour can be considered bullying and can be related to almost anything. Teasing another student because of their appearance, religion, ethnicity, gender, sexual-orientation, home life, culture, disability, or special educational needs are some of the types of bullying that can occur.

Bullying can be acted out through the following channels:

• Verbally/emotionally

• Physically 

• Online (cyber)

Types of bullying include:

• Racist bullying: Bullying another person based on their ethnic background, religion or skin colour. 

• Homophobic bullying: Bullying another person because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation. 

• Transphobic bullying: Bullying based on another person’s gender ‘variance’ or for not conforming to dominant gender roles. 

• Sexist bullying: Bullying based on sexist attitudes expressed in a way to demean, intimidate or harm another person because of their sex or gender. Sexist bullying may sometimes be characterised by inappropriate sexual behaviours. 

• Sexual bullying: Bullying behaviour that has a physical, psychological, verbal or non-verbal sexual dimension/dynamic that subordinates, humiliates or intimidates another person. This is commonly underpinned by sexist attitudes or gender stereotypes. 

Did you know?

Racist bullying is a criminal offence under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and Public Order Act 1986 and can lead to a student acquiring a criminal record. It is also a criminal offence to make any calls which cause annoyance, inconvenience or anxiety as well as sending any form of electronic communication which causes distress or anxiety.

The impact of bullying

Whatever the form of bullying, the impact on the victim can often be pain and distress. Bullying can seriously damage a young person’s confidence and sense of self-worth. The victim often feels to blame and is reluctant to talk about or report the bullying. Others who witness the bullying may also be afraid of speaking out for fear of retaliation. However, all students are encouraged to report bullying. No one deserves to be the victim of bullying.

Response to bullying - school

The school aims to adopt a range of strategies to reduce bullying and tackle it effectively when it does occur. This will include:

• Preventing, de-escalating and stopping any harmful behaviour

• Enabling students to report bullying incidents

• Reacting to bullying incidents in a reasonable, proportionate and consistent way

• Safeguarding the student who has experienced bullying and implement sources of support for the student where necessary

• Applying disciplinary sanctions to the student causing the bullying and ensure they learn from the experience, possibly through mediation or multi-agency support

• Regularly reviewing policies and strategies

• Involving staff, parents, and students in any conflicts that may arise

• Developing and implementing new strategies to tackle bullying

• Providing follow-up support to both the victim and bully in the months following any incidents, to ensure all bullying has stopped

Response to bullying - students

Students also play a vital role in tackling bullying and they should ensure that they:

• Know and understand the Anti-bullying Procedure

• Feel confident that the school will act quickly and fairly with any bullying issues that are reported

• Know the consequences and sanctions if found to be bullying

• Respond honestly to questionnaires or discussions on bullying

• Take responsibility for their own behaviour to ensure they are not being hurtful, intentionally or otherwise, to others in the school

• Report bullying to a peer or adult if they are the victim of bullying

• Report bullying to an adult if they witness bullying of others

• Attend any follow-up support meetings put in place in response to their involvement in a bullying incident

Response to bullying - parents and carers

Parents and carers should work in partnership with the school to support children who bully or who are being bullied.

Parents should ensure they:

• Report any incidents of bullying to the school

• Look for signs of behaviour change which are often linked with bullying  

• Are proactive in monitoring their child’s phone or internet access in particular social networking sites

• Support the school in any sanctions imposed on their child if they are found responsible for bullying

• Support their child in attending any follow-up meetings after a bullying incident

Outside agencies

Other outside agencies that are set up to help with bullying include: