Oatlands Infant School

Anti-Bullying Policy

Policy Review Dates – Every 4 Years

Review Date / Changes Made / By Whom / Next Review Date
Jan 2015 / ER / Jan 2019

Bullying, either verbal or physical, will not be tolerated in this school. It is everyone’s responsibility to prevent it from happening.

What do we mean by bullying?

Factors significant in any bullying activity

·  Occurs over a prolonged period of time, rather than being a single aggressive act.

·  Involves an imbalance of power, the powerful attacking the weak

·  Can be verbal, physical, cyber, or psychological

·  Can be racial or sexual harassment

Oatlands Infant School will:

·  Take all bullying incidents seriously, both of pupils and staff

·  Support children who are being bullied

·  Investigate all incidents thoroughly

·  Ensure that bullies and victims are interviewed separately

·  Obtain witness information

·  Keep a written record of the incident, investigation, and outcomes

·  Inform staff if a pupil is being bullied

·  Inform appropriate senior staff if a member of staff is being bullied

·  Take action to prevent repeated incidents

·  Inform governors of incident and action taken through weekly meetings with the Chair of Governors

·  Inform parents of bully, and victim, of proposed strategies to be taken, and aim to work in partnership with parents to improve behaviour

·  Liaise with FunClub where appropriate

Approach

The school will react firmly and promptly where bullying is identified. There is a range of sanctions available, depending on the perceived seriousness of the situation. Some of these include:

·  Teacher/Key Stage leader discussions with children and, where necessary, involvement of parents

·  Referral to senior staff

·  Withdrawal of favoured activities

·  Exclusion from school during the lunchtime

·  Exclusion from school, fixed-term

·  Exclusion from school, permanent

Other factors which must be examined

·  The nature of the bullying

·  The severity of the bullying

·  The frequency of the bullying

·  The motivation of the bullies

·  The number of bullies involved

Procedures

·  The victim to be offered immediate support

·  Children and any witnesses to be interviewed separately

·  Interviews to be noted, and incident recorded in the incident book

·  A senior member of staff should be involved according to the severity of the incident

·  The parents of children involved will be contacted either verbally or in writing and will be invited to respond

·  The unacceptable behaviour and the consequences of any repetition to be made clear to the children and the parents

Strategies for preventing bullying

·  A school policy known and supported by teachers, pupils, parents and governors.

·  Discuss with and involve children in agreed class and school rules and behaviour

·  Help children to develop positive strategies and assertion techniques

·  School council work with staff and children to promote positive behaviour

·  Consideration given to any risk areas, with close supervision during break and lunch times

·  Involve mid-day supervisors in training and discussion of how to effect better behaviour in the playground.

·  Involvement of parents at an early stage

·  Offer a curriculum with opportunities to develop a sense of worth

·  Review the rules of the school. Are they necessary, consistent, uniform etc? Do we have adequate disciplinary and reward systems?

·  Encourage pupils to realise it is their responsibility to promote the safety and welfare of all, and by reporting bullying incidents they are not telling tales

·  Be mindful of any changes in behaviour or punctuality

·  Look at classroom organisation, for example placement of furniture, resources, ample room for movement, uncluttered aisles to eliminate possibility for bullying actions

·  Parents should be encouraged to contact the school if they become aware of any child at all in difficulties

·  Identify the need for more resources, for example books on bullying (both fact and fiction), videos, plays to watch, role-playing and problem-solving games which can be used to teach non-conflict resolution

·  Identify a person to whom the pupil can speak in confidence

·  Provide equipment for the playground – balls, games, skipping ropes, etc.

Teachers under stress should be offered support through:

·  Support from senior colleague offering a withdrawal system

·  In-service training to offer new insights

·  An observer in the classroom to discern and analyse social groupings, relationships and reactions even if the actual bullying remains unseen

·  Staff support group