Belmont Academy

Procedures to Prevent and Respond to

Bullying & Prejudice

  1. Purpose

The procedures exist to ensure that managers and staff have detailed guidance to implement consistently Belmont Academy’s policy to Prevent and Respond to Bullying and Prejudice amongst young people. This provides evidence that Belmont Academy is meeting the moral and legal duties to protect all vulnerable children from bullying and unlawful discrimination on any grounds, including grounds of race, disability, sexual orientation, faith, gender and socio-economic status.

  1. Scope

The procedures apply to ALL staff members.

  1. Definitions
  • Bullyingis an abuse of power that is defined by its effects. People who are bulled are upset by something someone else has done or said to them or about them. They are likely to fear that this will happen again and feel powerless to stop it. Bullying is also a breach of children’s rights under several articles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
  • Bullying behaviour is more useful than ‘bully’ to avoid labelling individuals as this tends to become fixed.
  • Person being bullied/picked on/isolated is used as an alternative to ‘victim’ for the same reason. Alternatively, “person on the receiving end of bullying behaviour” is also useful.
  • Cyber-bullying is bullying behaviour that takes place via mobile phone or over the internet through emails, instant messaging and social networking sites.
  • Prejudice and Discrimination Racism, homophobia, sexual harassment, sexism, sectarianism, disability, class and faith discrimination are all areas of prejudice and discrimination that are initially defined by the perceptions of the “person on the receiving end of bullying behaviour” or others involved. This definition is supported by the Equality Act, 2010 in respect of racism and it is Belmont Academy’s policy to adopt the highest standards to challenge all forms of discrimination. The definition reflects legislation and guidelines to ensure that all allegations are treated seriously from the outset, investigated, recorded and if substantiated, dealt with according to these Procedures.
  • Parents/Carers are defined as:
  • A guardian and any person who is liable to maintain or has parental responsibilities (within the meaning of sec 1(3) of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995) in relation to, or has care of a child or young person, for example:
  • Non-resident parents who are liable to maintain or have parental responsibilities in respect of a child
  • Carers who are parents
  • Others with parental responsibilities, e.g. foster carers, relatives and friends who are caring for children and young people under supervision arrangements
  • Close relatives, such as siblings or grandparents caring for children who are not looked after or under home supervision arrangements
  • All councillors have responsibility for the wellbeing of children in the council’s care
  1. Actions
  2. Prevention Strategies
  • Promoting positive relationships amongst young people, staff and the local community, welcoming diversity and the ethosof the school, are all keys to preventing bullying and discrimination
  • Building resilience and empathy through curricular programmes like ‘Creating Confident Kids’ and ‘Bounce Back’
  • Consistent handling of challenging behaviour through restorative practices
  • Providing frequent reminders to staff, children, young people and parents/carers of Belmont Academy’s anti-bullying policy
  • Using the advice of the Health and Wellbeing area of Curriculum for Excellence with cross-curricular work on citizenship, rights, disability and diversity awareness, racism, sectarianism and homophobia.
  • Staff development opportunities on policy development, empathy and resilience
  • Frequent opportunities for young people to discuss issues
  • Use of evaluation tools which measure ethos, relationships and confidence in our school – pupil wellbeing questionnaire
  • Raising awareness of developing issues, e.g hate crime, cyber-bullying
  • Involvement of other agencies and partners in health, police and the voluntary sector
  • Diversity and anti-bullying assemblies/lessons
  • Working towards award programmes, e.g UN Rights Respecting Schools Award

4.2Protective Strategies

  • Buddy systems, especially at transition
  • Nurture and friendship groups – Belmont Academy as a pilot Nurture School
  • Use of curricular materials such as ‘Bounce Back’
  • Peer mentoring and mediation through pastoral support
  • Playground supervision
  • Arrangements for young people to raise issues confidently with staff
  • Involvement of other agencies and partners in health, police and voluntary sector
  • Highlight the roles and responsibilities of children as bystanders
  • Involvement of Educational Psychologist and other partner agencies

4.3Reactive Measures

A child may not be engaging consciously in bullying behaviour, but its impact is still felt and must be taken seriously. However, the level of awareness of a child who is bullying will be a significant factor in how it is dealt with:

  • De-escalation strategies
  • Involvement of parent/carer where appropriate
  • Restorative practices, including acknowledging grievances
  • Physical separation of person/people involved in bullying behaviours, where necessary and possible
  • Support base, safe room where feasible
  • Helping children to recognise that their actions have consequences
  • Sanctions, including loss of privileges
  • Assessment of additional support needs for the person who is involved in bullying behaviour and the person in receipt of this behaviour.
  • Referral to specific support service, such as educational psychologist, social work service or CAMHS
  • Involvement if police if incident relates to hate crime or harassment
  • Multi-agency team approach using GIRFEC principles
  • In the most extreme cases, Child Protection procedures will need to be considered
  • Exclusion from school is not itself a sanction or punishment for bullying behaviour and should only be used as a last resort.

4.4Recording Incidents

  • All substantiated incidents should be recorded, and if appropriate, Belmont Academy’s own recording procedures can be used initially. Subsequently South Ayrshire Council recording procedures should be used.
  • Staff may need to refer to the flowchart provided with these procedures for dealing with all incidents of bullying and prejudice
  • If there is any remaining doubt (on the part of staff, parents or children) about whether the incident has been completely substantiated, the incident and the doubts should be recorded.

4.5Gathering and analysing information

  • Gathering information from direct contact with PSE classes
  • Information from benchmarks created by HMIe is examined and compared with local information
  • Information from self-evaluation surveys of pupil, staff and parents is examined by the Care, Learning and Wellbeing Department

4.6Monitoring

  • Belmont Academy monitors their incident returns and survey results at least once a year
  1. Responsibilities

The designated Senior Leadership member or delegate has the responsibility for the maintenance of these procedures. Responsibilities of other members of staff are outlined in the policy.

  1. Policy Base

These procedures have been developed to implement the Policy to Prevent and Respond to Bullying and Prejudice amongst Young People who attend Belmont Academy

  1. Associate Documents
  • Appendix 1 - Procedure Flowchart for dealing with incidents of bullying/prejudice/discrimination
  • Appendix 2 - Belmont Academy Recording Form
  • Appendix 3 - Belmont Academy Bullying Log
  • Appendix 4 -Template of letter to Parent(s)/Carer(s) of recipient of bullying behaviour
  • Appendix 5 – Template of letter to Parent(s)/Carer(s) of person accused of bullying behaviour
  • Appendix 6 – Local Authority Racism Form
  1. Record Keeping

When a procedure has been followed there are often outputs such as decisions made or events occurred that need to be recorded. These outputs are considered School and Council records.

Procedure Flowchart for dealing with incidents of bullying/prejudice/discrimination

Belmont Academy Recording Form

PART A (to be completed by staff member)

  1. Date of incident ______Location of incident ______
  1. Name and position of person completing PART A of Recording Form

______

  1. Concern of allegation of discrimination on grounds of (you can circle more than one)

RaceDisabilityGender (sexism)

Faith/ReligionHomophobiaOther

  1. Please give a brief description of what happened (include info on witnesses/evidence:
  1. About the young person involved in alleged bullying behaviours:

Name ______Register Class ______

  1. About the young person who has been the recipient of alleged bullying behaviours:

Name ______Register Class ______

Belmont Academy Recording Form

PART B (to be completed by Guidance Teacher)

  1. What immediate action has been taken to protect the complainant from further harm?
  1. What action has been taken to alter the behaviour of those responsible?
  1. What action has been taken to support any others involved?
  1. What follow-up preventative work is planned as a result of this incident?
  1. As a result of this incident, at what date will the situation be monitored/reviewed?
  1. Was the incident reported to any other agency?

YESNO

(if ‘YES’ which agency ______)

Care, Learning and Wellbeing

Executive Director: HARRY M GARLAND

Belmont Academy

8 Nursery Road, Ayr KA7 3SN

Tel: (01292) 612054 Fax: (01292) 272363

E-Mail:

Date:

Head Teacher: Susan Beattie

Dear Parent/Carer

Child known as has reported that He/She has been subjected to a bullying incident. You can be reassured that the school does not tolerate any form of bullying and this allegation has been investigated thoroughly.

If at a later date you become aware of any incidents on this nature, we ask you to alert the school in order that further action may be pursued.

Please acknowledge receipt of this letter by returning to me the tear off slip below.

Thank you for your assistance.

Yours sincerely

______

Allegation of Bullying

I acknowledge receipt of this letter

Parent/Carer Name ______Signature______

Pupil Name ______Class ______

Education, Social Work, Housing, Culture & Leisure and Community Development

The information provided is subject to the Data Protection Act (1998). Information may be shared with other Council Departments and External Agencies for stated purposes only.

Care, Learning and Wellbeing

Executive Director: HARRY M GARLAND

Belmont Academy

8 Nursery Road, Ayr KA7 3SN

Tel: (01292) 612054 Fax: (01292) 272363

E-Mail:

Date:

Head Teacher: Susan Beattie

Dear Parent/Carer

It has been brought to our attention that Child known ashas participated in bullying behaviour. The school does not tolerate any form of bullying and this allegation has been investigated thoroughly.

Additional support will be offered toChild known as to ensure that such behaviour does not occur in the future.

Please acknowledge receipt of this letter by returning to me the tear off slip below.

Thank you for your assistance.

Yours sincerely

______

Allegation of Bullying

I acknowledge receipt of this letter

Parent/Carer Name ______Signature______

Pupil Name ______Class ______

Education, Social Work, Housing, Culture & Leisure and Community Development

The information provided is subject to the Data Protection Act (1998). Information may be shared with other Council Departments and External Agencies for stated purposes only.