Apple Orchard School

ANTI-BULLYING POLICY

Date of Ratification: / Signed:
JIm Martin (HEAD TEACHER)
OWNERS
Review date: / Signed:
JIm Martin (HEAD TEACHER)
OWNERS
Review date: / Signed:
JIm Martin (HEAD TEACHER)
OWNERS
Review date: / Signed:
JIm Martin (HEAD TEACHER)
OWNERS

Safeguarding Statement

At Apple Orchard School we respect and value all children and are committed to providing a caring, friendly and safe environment for all our pupils so they can learn, in a relaxed and secure atmosphere. We believe every pupil should be able to participate in all school activities in an enjoyable and safe environment and be protected from harm. This is the responsibility of every adult employed by, or invited to deliver services at Apple Orchard School. We recognise our responsibility to safeguard all who access school and promote the welfare of all our pupils by protecting them from physical, sexual and emotional abuse, neglect and bullying.

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 a member of staff.

Anti-bullying Policy

1 Introduction

1.1Bullying is action taken by one or more pupils with the deliberate intention of hurting another pupil, either physically or emotionally.

2 Aims and objectives

2.1 Bullying is wrong and damages individual pupils. We therefore do all we can to prevent it, by developing a school ethos in which bullying is regarded as unacceptable.

2.2We aim, as a school, to produce a safe and secure environment where all can learn without anxiety.

2.3This policy aims to produce a consistent school response to any bullying incidents that may occur.

2.4We aim to make all those connected with the school aware of our opposition to bullying, and we make clear each person’s responsibilities with regard to the eradication of bullying in our school.

3The role of managers

3.1The therapeutic community staff and owners support the headteacher in all attempts to eliminate bullying from our school. This policy statement makes it very clear that the governing body does not allow bullying to take place in our school, and that any incidents of bullying that do occur are taken very seriously and dealt with appropriately.

3.2The senior management monitors the incidents of bullying that occur, and reviews the effectiveness of the school policy regularly. The headteacher keeps accurate records of all incidents of bullying.

4The role of the headteacher

4.1It is the responsibility of the headteacher to implement the school anti-bullying strategy and to ensure that all staff (both teaching and non-teaching) are aware of the school policy and know how to deal with incidents of bullying. The

Headteacher reports to the senior management team about the effectiveness of the anti-bullying policy on request.

4.2The headteacher ensures that all pupils know that bullying is wrong, and that it is unacceptable behaviour in this school. The headteacher draws the attention of pupils to this fact at suitable moments. For example, if an incident occurs, the headteacher may decide to use whole school meetings, house meetings or handover time as a forum in which to discuss with other pupils why this behaviour was wrong, and why a pupil is being punished.

4.3The headteacher ensures that all staff receive sufficient training to be equipped to deal with all incidents of bullying.

4.4The headteacher sets the school climate of mutual support and praise for success, so making bullying less likely. When pupils feel they are important and belong to a friendly and welcoming school, bullying is far less likely to be part of their behaviour.

5The role of the teacher

5.1Teachers in our school take all forms of bullying seriously, and intervene to prevent incidents from taking place. They keep their own records of all incidents that happen in their class and that they are aware of in the school.

5.2If teachers witness an act of bullying, they do all they can to support the pupil who is being bullied. If a pupil is being bullied over a period of time, then, after consultation with the headteacher, the teacher informs the pupil’s social worker.

5.3If, as teachers, we become aware of any bullying taking place between members of a class, we deal with the issue immediately. This may involve counselling and support for the victim of the bullying, and punishment for the pupil who has carried out the bullying. We spend time talking to the pupil who has bullied: we explain why the action of the pupil was wrong, and we endeavour to help the pupil change their behaviour in future. If a pupil is repeatedly involved in bullying other pupils, we inform the headteacher and the special needs co-ordinator. We then invite the care staff to discuss the situation. In more extreme cases, for example where these initial discussions have proven ineffective, the headteacher may contact external support agencies such as the social services.

5.4Teachers routinely attend training, which enables them to become equipped to deal with incidents of bullying and behaviour management.

5.5Teachers attempt to support all pupils in their class and to establish a climate of trust and respect for all. By praising, rewarding and celebrating the success of all pupils, we aim to prevent incidents of bullying.

6The role of parents

6.1Parents who are concerned that their pupil might be being bullied, or who suspect that their pupil may be the perpetrator of bullying, should contact their pupil’s class teacher immediately. Where staff act as loco parentis for young people, their role is the same as the role of parents.

6.2Parents and care staff have a responsibility to support the school’s anti-bullying policy and to actively encourage their pupil to be a positive member of the school.

7Monitoring and review

7.1This policy is monitored on a day-to-day basis by the headteacher, who reports to senior management about the effectiveness of the policy on request.

7.2This anti-bullying policy is the senior managements responsibility and they review its effectiveness annually. They do this by examining the school’s anti-bullying logbook, and by discussion with the headteacher. Management analyse information with regard to age and ethnic background of all pupils involved in bullying incidents.

Every school must have measures in place to prevent all forms of bullying.

The Education and Inspections Act 2006.

Section 89 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 provides that maintained schools must have measures to encourage good behaviour and prevent all forms of bullying amongst pupils. These measures should be part of the school’s behaviour policy which must be communicated to all pupils, school staff and parents.

Independent School Standard Regulations 2010

The Independent School Standards Regulations 2010 provide that the proprietor of an Academy or other independent school is required to ensure that an effective anti-bullying strategy is drawn up and implemented.

The Equality Act 2010

The Equality Act 2010 replaces previous anti-discrimination laws with a single Act. A key provision is a new public sector Equality Duty, which came into force on 5 April 2011. It replaces the three previous public sector equality duties for race, disability and gender, and covers age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. The Duty has three aims. It requires public bodies to have due regard to the need to:

• eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the act

• advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it

• foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it.

Maintained schools and Academies are required to comply with the new Equality Duty. Part 6 of the Act makes it unlawful for the responsible body of a school to discriminate against, harass or victimise a pupil or potential pupil in relation to admissions, the way it provides education for pupils, provision of pupil access to any benefit, facility or service, or by excluding a pupil or subjecting them to any other detriment. In England and Wales Part 6 of the Act applies to maintained schools and Academies and to other independent schools.

Safeguarding children and young people.

Under the Children Act 1989 a bullying incident should be addressed as a child protection concern when there is ‘reasonable cause to suspect that a child is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm’. Where this is the case, the school staff should report their concerns to their local authority children’s social care. Even where safeguarding is not considered to be an issue, schools may need to draw on a range of external services to support the pupil who is experiencing bullying, or to tackle any underlying issue which has contributed to a child engaging in bullying.

Criminal law

Although bullying in itself is not a specific criminal offence in the UK, it is important to bear in mind that some types of harassing or threatening behaviour – or communications – could be a criminal offence, for example under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, the Malicious Communications Act 1988, the Communications Act 2003, and the Public Order Act 1986.

If school staff feel that an offence may have been committed they should seek assistance from the police. For example, under the Malicious Communications Act 1988, it is an offence for a person to send an electronic communication to another person with the intent to cause distress or anxiety or to send an electronic communication which conveys a message which is indecent or grossly offensive, a threat, or information which is false and known or believed to be false by the sender.

Bullying outside school premises

Teachers have the power to discipline pupils for misbehaving outside the school premises “to such an extent as is reasonable”. This can relate to any bullying incidents occurring anywhere off the school premises, such as on school or public transport, outside the local shops, or in a town or village centre.

Where bullying outside school is reported to school staff, it should be investigated and acted on. The headteacher should also consider whether it is appropriate to notify the police or anti-social behaviour coordinator in their local authority of the action taken against a pupil. If the misbehaviour could be criminal or poses a serious threat to a member of the public, the police should always be informed.

In all cases of misbehaviour or bullying the teacher can only discipline the pupil on school premises or elsewhere when the pupil is under the lawful control of the staff member.

DFE guidance (2012) defines bullying as “behaviour by an individual or group, repeated over time, that intentionally hurts another individual or group either physically or emotionally”.Bullying can be direct (either physical or verbal) or indirect (for example, being ignored or not spoken to).It results in pain and distress to the victim. There is a difference between bullying and the ‘falling out’ that both children and adults can experience, where friendships are soon restored. Bullying is the systematic and persistent use of aggression with the intention of hurting another person.

Bullying can be:

  • Emotional-being unfriendly, excluding, tormenting
  • 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

Why is it Important for School to Respond to Bullying?

Bullying hurts. No-one deserves to be a victim of bullying and everybody has the right to be treated with respect. Adults or pupils who are bullying need to learn different ways of behaving. As a schoolwe have a responsibility to respond promptly and effectively to any issues of bullying.

Prevention

The systems in school encourage appropriate behaviour and this is supported in our Personal Social Health Citizenship Education (PSHCE). Anti-bullying procedures are also in place to prevent, detect and manage such unacceptable behaviour effectively.

The Role of Managers

The Senior Leadership / Management team supports the Headteacher and other staffin all attempts to eliminate bullying from our school. The Managers will not condone any bullying in or related to the school setting, and any incidents of bullying that do occur will be taken very seriously and dealt with appropriately. The Managers monitor any incidents of bullying that do occur and regularly reviews the effectiveness of this policy.

Objectives of this Policy

The key objectives of this anti-bullying policy are to ensure:

  • All managers, teaching and non-teaching staff, pupils and parents/ carers/ carerswill have an understanding of what bullying is;
  • All managers, teaching/ non-teaching staff and volunteerswill know what the school policy is on bullying, and follow it when bullying is reported;
  • All pupils and parents/ carers/ carerswill know what the school policy is on bullying, and what they should do if bullying arises;
  • That as a school, we take bullying seriously. Pupils and parents/ carers/ carers should be assured that they will be supported when bullying is reported.
  • Bullying in any shape or form is not tolerated.

Signs and Symptoms

A pupil may indicate by signs or behaviour that he or she is being bullied. Staff in school should be aware of these possible signs and that they should investigate if a pupil:

  • Is frightened of making the journey to or from school;
  • Changes their usual routine;
  • Is unwilling to attend school (school phobic);
  • Begins to truant;
  • Becomes withdrawn, anxious, or lacking in confidence;
  • Starts stammering;
  • Attempts or threatens suicide
  • Absconds from school/ educational visit;
  • Frequently reports they feel ill (where no known cause of illness is known or detected);
  • Begins to do poorly in school work;
  • Attends schoolin clothes torn or with damaged books/ equipment;
  • Has possessions which are damaged or ‘go missing’;
  • Has unexplained cuts or bruises;
  • Becomes aggressive, disruptive or unreasonable;
  • Is bullying other children or siblings;
  • Stops eating;
  • Is frightened when questioned 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

In this school, pupils will be encouraged to report/discuss any behaviour they are not happy with.Initially Form Tutors, teachers and/or the Pastoral Support Team will try to deal with any incident in a supportive low key manner to avoid further distress.This may be:

  • Face to face talks;
  • Taken as a theme in a class PSHCE discussion if the bullied child is more at ease with this.

Should other incidents occur, the following procedure will be used progressively to address the problem:

  1. Formal, noted talk with the pupils concerned (parents/ carers/ carers notified verbally to allow any queries to be raised).
  2. Parents/ carers/ carers of the pupils involved asked to attend a formal meeting at school.
  3. Formal involvementand possible exclusion of the perpetrator.
  4. The bullying behaviour or threats of bullying will always be investigated and the bullying stopped quickly.
  5. Victim/s of bullying will be supported.
  6. Attempts will be made to help the perpetrator/s change their behaviour.

Please refer to School’s Anti-bullying Protocol.

Desired outcomes of such action:

  1. The bully / bullieswill be asked to genuinely apologise. Additional consequences may take place.
  2. If possible, the pupils will be reconciled.
  3. After the incident/incidents have been investigated and dealt with, each case will be monitored to ensure repeated bullying does not take place.

Cyberbullying:

Overview

All forms of bullying (including cyberbullying) should be handled as a community issue for the whole school. It is important that schools take measures to prevent and tackle bullying among pupils. But it is equally important that schools make it clear that bullying of staff, whether by pupils, parents or colleagues, is unacceptable. Evidence indicates that one in five (21%) teachers have reported having derogatory comments posted about them on social media sites from both parents and children.

School leaders, teachers, school staff, parents and pupils all have rights and responsibilities in relation to cyberbullying and should work together to create an environment in which pupils can learn and develop and staff can have fulfilling careers free from harassment and bullying.

Schools can offer support to parents on how to help their children engage safely and responsibly with social media, perhaps through a parents’ evening, advice in a school newsletter or signposting to other sources of support and advice. Creating a good school- parent relationship can help create an atmosphere of trust that encourages parents to raise concerns in an appropriate manner. Part of this is making sure that parents and carers are aware and understand how to communicate with the school. Schools should also make clear that it is not acceptable for pupils, parents or colleagues to denigrate and bully school staff via social media in the same way that it is unacceptable to do so face to face.

Schools should encourage all members of the school community including parents to use social media responsibly. Parents have a right to raise concerns about the education of their child, but they should do so in an appropriate manner.

School staff

All school staff are in a position of trust, and there are expectations that they will act in a professional manner at all times. Here is some key advice for staff which may help protect their online reputation:

 Ensure you understand your school’s policies on the use of social media, Childnet’s 'Using Technology' guide has more information on what to be aware of.

 Do not leave a computer or any other device logged in when you are away from your desk.