Bow School of Maths & Computing

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What You Need to Know › Policies

Anti-Bullying Policy

Updated May 2009

This policy was initially drawn up in partnership with Kickstart, a local youth organisation, and Bow School of Maths and Computing student council. It has now been reviewed in line with the Tower hamlets effective policy checklist by the inclusion team, December 2008.

Affirmation

Bow School of Maths and Computing recognises that bullying is a serious issue for the entire school community. We recognise the damage it can cause to the education of the victim, the perpetrator and the student body as a whole. We are committed to challenging the assumption that bullying is inevitable and are working towards its complete eradication.

Aims

The aim of the policy is to provide a definition of bullying and to establish some basic guidelines for:

• The prevention of bullying
• The reporting of bullying
• The recording of incidents of bullying
• Supporting the victim
• Supporting the bully
• Sanctions
• Communication

Bow School’s definition of bullying

Bullying is an act, or series of acts, designed to intimidate, frighten or hurt another person. Bullying can be sexual, racial or cultural; it can highlight another person’s physical appearance; and it can use violence or the threat of violence. Bullying can also be verbal or carried out through emails, text messages, or phone calls.

Prevention

Bow School is committed to the complete eradication of bullying. In order to achieve this the school will:

• Have an anti-bullying week every year to promote the school’s anti-bullying policy
• Designate a member of staff to promote the anti-bullying policy
• Deliver anti-bullying lessons in Citizenship and other relevant subject areas
• Deliver training to staff on anti-bullying policy and other associated issues such as how to respond to racist, homophobic and gender/sexist bullying
• Have an anti-bullying display board promoting the reporting of bullying and disseminating information about how to prevent bullying
• Ensure that all parents have a copy of anti-bullying policy sent to them
• Translate anti-bullying policy into relevant languages
• Identify vulnerable groups at transition and give them extra support.

Promote the training of Peer Mentors amongst students to ensure that students’ voice is included.

Reporting

Bow School is committed to removing the culture of secrecy from bullying. We recognise that many young people will be put off reporting bullying because they fear that it will make matters worse. In order to promote the reporting of bullying the school will:

• Encourage students who are afraid of reporting bullying incidents to members of staff to feel free to discuss such issues with Peer Mentors, who will report such incidents to members of staff
• Carry out surveys on bullying at least once a term, allowing students to disclose if they are being bullied anonymously. There will be staff training needs in this regard to enable them understand how to manage such problems
• Provide training to staff in how to deal with a disclosure about bullying
• Deal with each disclosure about bullying sensitively and with a guarantee about anonymity if this is requested.

In order to ensure the accuracy of reporting, written testimony will be taken from the victim, the perpetrator and any witnesses. These will be treated sensitively and kept confidential.

Recording

In order to monitor the frequency with which incidents of bullying take place, the school will record each incident of bullying on the SLEUTH and the person responsible for dealing with bullying cases will check to ascertain if action had been taken on the issue. The following information will be recorded:

• The student name
• Their form
• Whether or not they wish to remain anonymous
• Brief details about the alleged incident
• Who dealt with it
• What action was taken

The data will be analysed termly to help inform us of any necessary changes to practice.

Support for the victim

Bow School recognises how traumatic being the victim of bullying can be. We are committed to providing each victim with the support they need to continue with their education in an environment free from fear of bullying. In order to do this the school will choose from a range of options:

• Arrange a letter of apology from the perpetrator of bullying
• Discuss with the students what support they feel that they need
• Discuss with parent/s what support they feel that their son needs
• Make referrals to external agencies if necessary
• Arrange a repair and restore session between the bully and the victim
• Organise a Peer Mediation Panel in order to resolve bullying cases
• Organise a ‘Friendship Group’ or on individual basis, to support victims of bullying. Peer Mentors can play a lead role in this regard.

Support for the perpetrator

Bow School recognises that bullying can damage the education of the perpetrator as well as the victim. Students that perpetuate bullying will be offered a range of support. This will include one or more of the following:

• Supervised break times
• A red class monitoring report
• A Behaviour Action Plan
• A Pastoral Support Programme
• A managed move to another school
• A referral to the Learning Support Unit
• A referral to an external agency (e.g. Docklands Outreach)
• If the bullying incident had involved actual or attempted extortion, a referral will be made to the school police officer in exceptional circumstances.
• Refer the bully to undergo a mentoring session under the anti-bullying one to one or group programme.
• Organise a repair and restore session based on the principles of ‘restorative justice’, during which the negative conduct of the bully will be clarified to him.

Sanctions

It is important for the victim of bullying, the perpetrator, and the school community as a whole for there to be clearly defined consequences for any act of bullying. Each case will be dealt with individually, but the types of sanctions available to the school are:

• A period of inclusion in the Learning Support Unit
• Withdrawals of break times and lunch times
• Fixed term exclusions
• Permanent exclusion

Communication

Whenever an allegation about bullying is made, the parents, form tutor and Head of Year of both victim and perpetrator will be informed. In cases of extortion the school police officer will be informed in exceptional circumstances.

Parents / Careers

All parents /carers are required to contact the school immediately their child is bullied or being bullied. All initial reports from parents/careers should be made to the child’s form tutor.