D’Eyncourt Primary School is located on Mullett Road, Wednesfield in the Fallings Park ward of Wolverhampton. There are currently 313 children on roll from Reception through to Year 6. The ethnic make-up of D’Eyncourt Primary School is as follows;
78% White – British, 10% Indian, 4% White and Black Caribbean, 4% Black Caribbean, 2% Any Mixed Asian background, 0.7% White and Asian, 0.7% Any other White, 0.3% Black African, 0.3% Pakistani, 0.3% Any other Asian background.
This policy has been written to give clear guidance to all users about the school’s roles and responsibilities with regard to bullying and any related incidents. The school has a legal responsibility to take bullying seriously.
This policy was amended and updated in the Spring Term 2008 after consultation with Healthy Schools Advisors, the Head teacher and the Healthy Schools Co-ordinator. The policy was updated whilst taking into account all previous issues raised by parents, staff and children. Once completed, this policy will be presented to the Governors of the school and if agreed, will be available to parents.
All members of staff have a teaching file, where all school policies are kept. This is continually updated and reviewed. The teaching file allows staff a continual, open access to any school policy. All new members of staff are given their own teaching file which is updated regularly. A copy of all school policies are kept by the Head teacher and school office for personal reference and availability to parents/visitors.
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. The school endeavours to support and train staff to recognise the signs of bullying. Staff development is of great importance and training will be continually updated.
The school works closely with outside agencies to support any victims of bullying or indeed, the bullies themselves (to help them learn why their actions are wrong!) SIPs workers are liaised with, when appropriate. The school also has support from a counselling volunteer system which allows the children an opportunity to talk to someone outside the immediate situation.
The possibility of peer counselling or Anti-Bullying surveys will be raised at the School Council meetings in the Summer Term 2008 to audit the children’s opinions about these possible systems.
A bully is a person who picks on one child (or sometimes other children) by being aggressive. They often do it to feel a sense of power and to feel good about themselves. A bully sets out to hurt or frighten their victims, using either actions or unkind words. This leaves their victim afraid, isolated and unhappy.
Any person can become a victim of bullying. Bullies pick on others for various reasons but could be due to the victim’s height, weight, race or confidence levels.
When a child or children act like they have more power than another and regularly intimidate the same person to cause them fear or humiliation this is bullying and must be stopped!
Once a bully has chosen someone to pick on the abuse can happen again and again, but remember nobody deserves to be bullied… especially YOU!
Bullying can be:
Verbal
This happens when a bully uses offensive remarks to upset or intimidate someone and can be done in lots of different ways.
Teasing, sarcasm, taunting, or calling someone (or members of their families) unpleasant, hurtful names.
Using threatening words
that imply the victim is going to come to some harm.
Physical
This is when a bully actually attacks someone by hitting or kicking,
pushing or pulling, punching or pinching them.
It is when someone intentionally trips you up or bangs into you.
Physical abuse also includes a bully damaging your belongings.
Emotional
This form of bullying can make you feel very isolated and lonely – your
bully ignores and leaves you out and encourages their friends to exclude you too. This sort of bully may spread horrible lies about you by sending round nasty notes or texts. Torment you e.g. hiding you belongs, threatening gestures.
Cyber
All areas of internet, such as emails & internet chat room misuse.
Mobile threats by text messaging & calls.
Misuse of associated technology, i.e. camera & video footage.
Homophobic
This is when someone makes unkind comments about your sexuality or uses the term ‘gay’ inappropriately.
Other
Bullies can also tease you about your appearance, the colour of your skin.
Maybe if you come from a different cultural background. Belong to another religion. Have a different regional accent. Have a disability. Have a stammer or speech impediment, wear glasses, have a hearing aid, wear braces, the list is endless - anything a bully can find about you to make you feel vulnerable!
All children can be unkind to each other on occasions, children who are friends can call each other names or get involved with physical ‘rough games’ without it being bullying.
Occasionally teasing between friends can go a little too far, actions that start out as just being fun may result in someone getting emotionally or physical hurt. These are generally isolated incidents and are usually a result of a child impulsivity or misunderstanding social situations. This doesn’t necessarily constitute bullying in the true sense of the word. These quarrels usually result in the children falling out for a couple of days – couple of hours and low and behold they are best of friend again the next week!
As a school we always closely assess situations and disagreements and providing it is an isolated incident and not on going abuse on a regular basis we would aim to resolve the problems amicably between the children involved through discussion and appropriate sanctions.
If you are not sure whether something has become bullying, stop and think, ask yourself these questions:
Are my actions or words hurting someone else's feelings?
Are my actions or words hurting someone else physically or making that person feel afraid?
Would I want someone else to do this to me?
Am I unfairly taking my anger out on someone?
Am I trying to control someone against his or her will?
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.
Each incident is dealt with on an individual basis, but parents can expect a prompt and informative response to any bullying incidents.
Some people think that bullying is really just teasing, and that it is part of normal childhood. It has always happened, so therefore it must be all right. The harm and distress it can cause shows this attitude to be not just outdated, but just plain wrong. It is NEVER acceptable for one person to intimidate (frighten, humiliate) another.
Bullying destroys children’s sense of self worth. It can be extremely frightening and make a child feel very lonely. Life becomes more miserable over time for a victim, and eventually the child can become withdrawn and finds it difficult to talk to anyone about their problems.
Persistent bullying can have a dramatic effect on young people, leaving them feeling helpless to stop it. Many more carry the effects of bullying long into their adult lives, this must be a horrible way to live your life and no-one should be put through it.
If bullies aren’t stopped they think they can use violence to get their own way all the time. They will never learn to treat other people well, even when they are adults.
Who does a bully choose to target?
Someone they think is weaker, or different.
Sometimes younger children.
Someone who has only a few friends to talk to (the bully finds bigger groups of friends more difficult to control)
A bully has often, unfortunately, learned their bad behaviour from other people bullying them. This can be an adult, or an older brother or sister. This experience teaches a bully how to pick younger or weaker children to pick on and frighten.
People who appear different are targets for bullies, it doesn’t mean they will become victims of bullying, it just means that it is more likely that they will be approached by a bully.
Some children get picked on because a bully thinks they are ‘different’ in some way. This is wrong. If we only look at differences instead of getting to know people we miss out on so much. We are all different from each other, every person on the planet is exclusive and this is what makes life interesting and special. If everyone was exactly the same, the world would be very dull place, we wouldn’t be able to learn new things or have interesting conversations. It is good to be different. It is what makes each one of us special!
A bully can work whoever children are. They can be found in school classrooms and playgrounds, in clubs and parks, anywhere that children spend time.
They find chances to show their power over other children by frightening their victim whenever they know that there isn’t anyone around who could stop them.
The answer to this question is terror and fear. The bully needs to frighten the victim so thoroughly that the victim is too traumatised to ever tell anyone who could help – and the bully has to control and persuade other children who know the victim to keep quiet too. This silent fear means no-one who can stop the bullying ever gets to hear about it.
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Top tips to avoid bullies include: Stay where a responsible adult can see you.
Talk to an adult you trust if you have a problem.
Stay in a group whenever you can.
Try to stay calm – if the bully doesn’t succeed in upsetting you, then possibly they might get bored and go away!
Try to avoid conflict with the bully – they will love a reaction and use it as an excuse to pick on you even more.
Find a quiet moment, then talk. Tell you mum or dad, your teacher or group leader. Talking about your problems, whether it’s a bullying incident happening to you or your friend, is like opening a gate which can solve the problem.
Explain carefully what is happening and a sensible adult will help you solve the problem. You don’t have to deal with it all on your own.
Schools have a responsibility to respond promptly and effectively to
issues of bullying.
All governors, teaching and non-teaching staff, pupils and parents should have an understanding of what bullying is.
All governors, 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
Report bullying incidents to staff.
In cases of serious bullying, the incidents will be recorded by staff.
In serious cases parents should be informed and will be asked to come in to a meeting to discuss the problem.
The bullying behaviour or threats of bullying must be investigated and the bullying stopped quickly.
An attempt will be made to help the bully (bullies) change their behaviour.
The bully (bullies) may be asked to genuinely apologise. Other consequences may take place.
In serious cases, suspension or even exclusion will be considered.
If possible, the pupils will be reconciled.
After the incident/incidents have been investigated and dealt with, each case will be monitored to ensure repeated bullying does not take place.
We are to educate our children to be accepting and tolerant of others. We encourage children to talk about themselves and celebrate differences and similarities. Our PSHE Scheme of work encourages children to talk about many sensitive topics in a safe environment without fear of being ridiculed or talked about. We plan circle time sessions that are supported by the following rules:
What you talk about in the circle will not leave the circle.
You must not laugh at anything people say in the circle.
You can only speak by raising your hand or in infants - when you are holding the toy (teachers use a soft toy to pass around the circle to give all children a chance to speak).
If you don’t want to speak you can pass.
Children participating in circle time know they are safe to discuss their own experiences of many things including bullying. It provides the opportunity for teachers to help children know how to deal with bullying if they are the victim. It also gives children with behavioural difficulties methods that they can use to calm down and deal with their feelings.
This whole school approach contributes to preventing episodes of bullying.
I would just like to thank Simran Lally for drawing some of the wonderful illustrations and for the children in the pictures for posing - they are usually a happy bunch... honestly!
Hopefully you will find some of the above information useful but for more information and advice on bullying especially if you are a teenager or are the parents of a teenager having problems...
try some of the site links below.
Copy for the anti-bullying extracts in statement used with permission from The Children's Safety Education Foundation (CSEF)
Excellent site for advice and teaching resources!
