Anti-Bullying Policy 2020/2021 - Rivelin Primary School

Anti-Bullying Policy
                   2020/2021

Approved by:                Date:

Last reviewed on:

Next review due by:

                                    Anti-Bullying Policy
This policy is based on DFE guidance “Preventing and Tackling Bullying” July 2017 and supporting
documents. It also considers the DFE statutory guidance “Keeping Children Safe in Education” 2019.

Policy Objectives
       This policy outlines what Rivelin Primary School will do to prevent and tackle all forms of
        bullying.
       The policy has been adopted with the involvement of the whole school community
       Rivelin Primary School is committed to developing an anti-bullying culture where the
        bullying of adults, children or young people is not tolerated in any form.

Links with other school policies and practices
This policy links with several policies and practices including:
       Behaviour and discipline policy
       Complaints policy
       Child protection policy
       Confidentiality policy
       Curriculum policies

Links to legislation
There are several pieces of legislation which set out measures and actions for schools in response to
bullying, as well as criminal and civil law. These may include (but are not limited to):
       The Education and inspection act 2006, 2011
       The Equality act 2010
       The children act 1989
       Protection from harassment act 1997
       The malicious communications act 1997
       Public order 1986

Responsibilities
It is the responsibility of:
       The Headteacher to communicate this policy to the school community, to ensure that
        disciplinary measures are applied fairly, consistently and reasonably and that a member of
        the senior leadership team has been identified to take overall responsibility.
       Governors to take a lead role in monitoring and reviewing this policy
       All staff, including governors, senior leadership, teaching and non-teaching staff to support
        uphold and implement this policy accordingly

   Parents/carers to support their children and work in partnership with the school
      Pupils to abide by the policy.

What is bullying?
There are many definitions of bullying, but most have these things in common:
      It is a misuse of power
      It is deliberately hurtful behaviour
      It is repeated often over a period of time
      It is difficult for those being bullied to defend themselves
      It is also sending an email, text or instant message that is regarded as offensive, harassment
       or of a bullying nature
Bullying can be defined as “behaviour by an individual or a group, repeated over time that
intentionally hurts another individual either physically or emotionally” DFE preventing and
tackling bullying, July 2017

Bullying can take many forms but these are the main types:
      Physical – hitting, kicking, taking belongings, producing offensive graffiti,
      Verbal – name calling, taunting, mocking, making offensive comments, insulting, gossiping,
       racist or sexist remarks and spreading hurtful untruthful rumours.
      Indirect – spreading nasty stories about someone, excluding someone from social groups,
       negative body language, passing unpleasant notes
      Online – use of social media and forums. See below what is Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying
When responding to cyberbullying concerns the school will:
      Act as soon as an incident has been reported or identified
      Provide appropriate support for the person who has been cyberbullied and work with the
       person who has carried out the bullying to ensure that it does not happen again
      Encourage the person being bullied to keep any evidence (screenshots) of the bullying
       activity to assist any investigation
      Take all available steps where possible to identify the person responsible, this may include:
      Looking at use of the school systems
      Identifying and interviewing possible witnesses
      Contacting the service provider and the Police if necessary
      Work with the individuals and online service providers to prevent the incident from
       spreading and assist in removing offensive or upsetting material from circulation
      Support reports to a service provider to remove content if those involved are unable to be
       identified or if those involved refuse to or are unable to delete content
      Confiscating and searching pupil’s electronic devices such as mobile phones in accordance
       with the law.

   Requesting the deletion of locally-held content and content posted online if they contravene
       school behavioural policies
      Ensure that sanctions are applied to the person responsible for the cyberbullying and the
       school will take steps to change the attitude and behaviour of the bully as well as ensuring
       access to any additional help that they may need
      Inform the Police if a criminal offence has been committed
      Provide information to staff and pupil’s regarding steps they can take to protect themselves
       online
      This could include, advising those targeted not to retaliate or reply, providing advice on
       blocking or removing people from contact lists and helping those involved to think carefully
       about what private information they may have in the public domain
Pupils who are being bullied may show changes in behaviour, such as becoming shy and nervous,
feigning illness, taking unusual absences or clinging to adults. There may be evidence of changes in
work patterns, lacking concentration or truanting from school. Pupils must be encouraged to report
bullying in schools.

Anti – Bullying Mission Statement
This is to remind the whole school community that we stand firm against bullying. The most
effective strategy to combat bullying lies within the power of the majority of pupils to speak out
against it. We seek to challenge bullying behaviour and to build and maintain an anti-bullying ethos
in the school. Children can be taught to take an active stand against bullying behaviour. We wish to
create a school environment where people feel secure, where they feel valued and where they can
be happy working in a non-threating atmosphere.

                         ‘There’s no such thing as an innocent bystander’

Statutory duty of schools
Headteachers have a legal duty under the school standards and framework act 1998 to draw up
procedures to prevent bullying among pupils and to bring these procedures to the attention of staff,
parents and pupils.

At Rivelin Primary School:
      The issue of bullying and the need to stand firm against it receives a high profile
      The subject is tackled systematically, both in assembly and in curriculum time. Anti-bullying
       values and co-operative behaviour are actively promoted.
      At Rivelin Primary School we promote peer help and on our playgrounds we have a group of
       children who have been trained in Healthy minds and will support children who maybe
       experiencing friendship issues.
      The SLT follows up more serious behavioural incidents and concerns from parents carefully
       and sensitively and is recorded on our system, which is CPOMs
      Midday supervisors record incidents and inform the class teacher or Senior learning mentor
       if they are concerned about an individual or a situation

   Children may be given strategies to follow with behavioural targets which are reviewed and
       updated
      The staff operate and record on CPOMs and alert the SLT so that vulnerable children are
       monitored and reviewed regularly and information passed on at transition
      Governors receive a report annually which monitors the incidents of bullying and racism
       within school.

The school will:
      Respond to any bullying behaviour promptly and consistently
      Be committed to preventing and tackling bullying
      Promote school values which reject bullying behaviour and promote co-operative behaviour
      Teach the children how to stand firm against bullying behaviour
      Involve the whole school community in implementing the anti-bullying policy actively and
       effective, this will include children, families, all staff and governors
      Maintain, evaluate and review this policy on a regular basis

Pupils who experience bullying will be helped by:
      Having the immediate opportunity to discuss their experience with a member of staff who
       they feel comfortable with
      Knowing that they can report bullying and get help, which might mean keeping a record of
       the incidents that happen as evidence
      Ensuring that they feel safe again
      Helping to restore confidence and resilience
      Offering continuous pastoral support
      Being aware that they will get support from peers, staff and family and maybe the wider
       community.
      Where necessary working with local/national organisations to provide further or specialist
       advice and guidance
      Have the opportunity to face their bully in a safe space with a member of the SLT to do a
       restorative conversation

Pupils who engage in bullying behaviour will be helped by:
          Being held to account for their actions – appropriate sanctions
          Facing up to the harm they have caused
          Learning to behave in ways that do not cause harm by developing their emotional skills
           and knowledge
          Know how to repair the harm they have caused
          Informing parents/carers so they can change the attitude of the pupil

Pupils who instigate bullying will be helped by:

Procedure for staff and children to follow:
      An incident must be reported to an adult working in the school
      The adult will deal with the incident and every effort will be made to find a solution to the
       immediate problem. The incident must be logged on CPOMs and alerted to the SLT
      Strategies for the future will be given to help the pupil
      Children who have been bullied will be heard, reassured, continuous support offered and
       restoring self-esteem and building confidence will be a priority
      More serious incidents must be reported straight away to the SLT
      Any bullying incident which is racist, sexual (including reference to sexual orientation) or
       which refers to disability must be reported to the SLT and recorded on CPOMs
      Parents may be contacted
      Class teacher and other adults working with the children involved should be informed

Five key points for staff to consider when dealing with bullying:
      Never ignore suspected bullying
      Don’t make assumptions
      Listen carefully to all accounts – several pupils saying the same does not necessarily mean
       they are telling the truth
      Adopt a problem-solving approach which moves pupils on from justifying themselves
      Follow up repeatedly, checking bullying has not resumed

Monitoring, evaluation and review
The school will review this policy on a regular basis and assess its implementation and effectiveness.
The policy will be promoted and implemented throughout the school.
The SLT are responsible for the implementation of this policy.

Anti-Bullying Alliance: www.anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk

Childline: www.childline.org.uk

Family lives www.familylives.org.uk

NSPCC www.nspcc.org.uk

National Bullying www.nationalbullyinghelpline.co.uk