Education Policies

“Bullying has been around since time began. It equips kids to deal with life. Why do we need advice to deal with it?”

Fortunately, the attitude of this person is not shared by the majority of adults.  In fact most adults, especially parents and carers, are concerned to stop bullying and want practical ideas on how to cope and deal with it.  Children who see their friends being bullied have a hard time concentrating on learning.

No child deserves to be bullied.  As well as dealing with the victims of bullying we also have a responsibility to help the bullies – we do bullies no favours by ignoring their behaviour.  Our aim is to change the attitudes which allow bullying and to actively seek ways of stopping bullying.

How you can help

• If your child is experiencing bullying then reassure her/him that s/he has done the right thing in telling you about the bullying
• Explain to your child that should any further incidents occur s/he should report them to a teacher immediately
• If you are worried that your child is being bullied ask her/him directly
• Take bullying seriously and find out the facts when told about an incident of bullying
• Don’t agree to keep the bullying a secret
• Give your child a chance to vent her/his feelings about being bullied
• Check that you child is not inviting the bullying by saying things which may upset others
• Keep a written diary of all events
• Talk with a teacher or Head teacher if it is a school bullying

If you are not satisfied

Families who feel that their concerns are not being addressed appropriately by the school, might like to consider the following steps:

• Make an appointment to discuss the matter with the class teacher and keep a record of the meeting
• If this does not help, write to the Head teacher explaining your concerns and what you would like to see happening
• Contact local or national parent support groups for advice

If your child is a bully

First of all discourage your child from using bullying behaviour at home or elsewhere. Show them how to resolve difficult situations without using violence or aggression.

Sometimes children bully others because:

• They do not know that it is wrong
• They are copying older brothers or sisters or other people in the family whom they admire
• They have not learnt other, better ways of mixing with their school friends
• Their friends encourage them to bully
• They are going through a difficult time and are acting out their aggressive feelings

To stop your child from bullying others

• Talk with your child; explain that what s/he is doing is unacceptable and makes other children unhappy.

Parents and families are often the first to detect that a problem exists. Don’t dismiss it.

Contact the school immediately if you are worried.  Your child may indicate signs or behaviours that he or she is being bullied.

If you are concerned and become aware of any of the following, you may wish to contact the school.

Your child may:

• Be frightened of walking to or from school
• Be unwilling to go to school
• Beg you to drive them to school
• Change their route to school
• Begin doing poorly in their school work
• Come home early or regularly with clothes or books destroyed
• Become stressed, stop eating.
• Have unexplained bruises, scratches and cuts
• Have their possessions go ‘missing’
• Ask for money or begin stealing money (to pay the bully)
• Continually lose their pocket money
• Refuse to say what is wrong.

Bullying – Possible signs

Parents and families are often the first to detect that a problem exists. Don’t dismiss it.  Contact the school immediately if you are worried.

Your child may indicate signs or behaviours that he or she is being bullied.  If you are concerned and become aware of any of the following, you may wish to contact the school.

Your child may:

• Be frightened of walking to or from school
• Be unwilling to go to school
• Beg you to drive them to school
• Change their route to school
• Begin doing poorly in their school work
• Come home early or regularly with clothes or books destroyed
• Become stressed, stop eating.
• Have unexplained bruises, scratches and cuts
• Have their possessions go ‘missing’
• Ask for money or begin stealing money (to pay the bully)
• Continually lose their pocket money
• Refuse to say what is wrong.

Talk with teachers about bullying

• Try and stay calm – bear in mind that the teacher may have no idea that your child is being bullied or may have heard conflicting accounts of an incident.
• Be as specific as possible about what your child says has happened – give dates, places and names of the other children involved.
• Make a note of what action the school intends to take.
• Ask if there is anything you can do to help your child or the school.
• Stay in touch with the school; let them know if things improve or if problems continue.

• Staff must be aware of the policy on bullying
• All staff must challenge any bullying behaviour, including anti-racist, anti-sexist and homophobic behaviour
• Staff must be aware that verbal behaviour can be intimidating
• All staff must be diligent in reporting incidents – even apparent one-offs
• Incidents must be dealt with and seen to be dealt with
• When investigating an incident of apparent bullying, staff must be aware that this may not be the underlying cause of this incident.
• Separately, pupils must each be given the opportunity to present their version of events.
• Teachers need to be aware of whether the bullying is by an individual or a group of pupils
• A note must be made in the incident log book of any incident observed.
• Staff must not walk past any incident and leave it unchallenged.
• Follow agreed procedures for dealing with bullying incidents.
• Class teachers and school staff need to discuss the implementations of the anti-bullying policy annually.