Anti-Bullying Policy

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St John’s Church of England Primary School
Anti-bullying Policy

Guided by ‘Preventing and Responding to Bullying’ – Policy and practice guidance for Hertfordshire schools

Date Approved: July 2020
Headteacher: Mrs Helen Langeveld
Chair of Governors: Mrs Julie Griffiths
Review Date: July 2021

Love, Respect, Value
St John’s Church of England Primary School is committed to high expectations
for all and to embracing equality.

Purpose
“Church schools should, above all else, be places where relationships prosper, are nurtured, are encouraged to mature with wisdom, are cherished when under threat or are broken. Relationships within the whole learning community are important not only between children, but also between children and staff, staff and staff, staff and parents, staff, parents and governors.”  ~John Cox

The purpose for this policy is to support the above statement and to form an integral part of our school’s Christian ethos:
Loving your neighbour, respecting each other and valuing diversity.
‘Every child should be able to learn in a school environment free from bullying of any kind and inwhich they feel safe and supported. There is no place for bullying in our schools and communities and each of us involved in education has a role in creating a culture in schools where bullying is not tolerated. No child deserves to suffer the pain and indignity that bullying can cause. We recognise the negative impact it has on the educational experiences and wider development of so many of our children and young people.’ (Safe to Learn, DCSF 2007)

Aims
This policy statement outlines the commitment of the staff, children and Governors at St John’s School to ensure that any form of bullying is prevented and avoided as far as possible for all members of the school community. These include:
● Children
● Teaching staff
● Support staff
● Voluntary staff
● Parents
● Governors
● Visitors to the school
● Students on placement.

The aims of St John’s anti-bullying strategies and intervention systems are:
● To prevent, de-escalate and/or stop any continuation of harmful behaviour.
● To react to bullying incidents in a reasonable, proportionate and consistent way.
● To safeguard the pupil who has experienced bullying and to trigger sources of support for the pupil.
● To support the pupil causing the bullying and apply disciplinary sanctions if necessary to ensure they learn from the experience, possibly through multi agency support.
Equal opportunities and mutual respect should permeate all aspects of school life, and is the responsibility of every member of the school community.

Anti-bullying Charter
St John’s adheres to the The Anti-bullying Charter principles – For pupils who experience bullying that:
• they are heard;
• they know how to report bullying and get help;
• they are confident in the school’s ability to deal with the bullying;
• steps are taken to help them feel safe again;
• they are helped to rebuild confidence and resilience;
• they know how they can get support from others.
For pupils who engage in bullying behaviour:
• disciplinary sanctions and learning programmes hold them to account for their behaviour and help them to face up to the harm they have caused;
• they learn to behave in ways which do not cause harm in future, because they have developed their emotional skills and knowledge;
• they learn how they can take steps to repair the harm they have caused.

 

 

For St John’s School:
• the whole school community is clear about the anti-bullying stance the school takes;
• pupils, as well as staff and other members of the school, are fully engaged in developing and reviewing anti-bullying work in the school;
• every chance is taken to celebrate the success of anti-bullying work;
• all pupils are clear about the roles they can take in preventing bullying, including the role of bystanders.

 

 

Growth Mindset and Learning without Limits
There is a consistently high expectation of all children regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, ability or social background. All pupils are encouraged to improve on their own achievements. Parents are also encouraged to view their own children’s achievements in this light. The adults in the school try to provide good, positive role models in their approach to all issues relating to anti-bullying and equality of opportunity.

Definition of Bullying
All members of the school community are committed to providing a safe, positive, valuing and inclusive environment for pupils, staff and parents/ carers.
At St John’s we define bullying behaviour as:
● Intentionally hurtful- It is deliberate, unjustifiable and unprovoked behaviour. It includes actions that cause physical, emotional or mental hurt to the victim and actions that violate another person’s freedom and rights.
● A repeated experience- It is persistent or repeated anti-social behaviour.
● An inequality of power- The person being bullied finds it difficult to reject or deal with the offending behaviour, or those involved in the bullying behaviour have power over the victim.

 

Examples of bullying:
● Verbal bullying and cyber-bullying
● Physical bullying
● Indirect bullying, eg, spreading rumours or excluding individuals
● Psychological bullying, eg, intimidation
● Racist taunts or gestures (All incidents are reported to county)
● Sexual
● Homophobic
● Disability

 

Prevention of Bullying
St John’s is a school where the Christian values mean we strive daily for a peaceful and supportive atmosphere. We also strive for a learning atmosphere which welcomes and values everyone. We aim to respond immediately to any allegations of bullying behaviour whether it be verbal, implied (e.g ignoring, isolation), physical intimidation or harm and cyberbullying.

 

At St John’s we:
● Establish a Christian ethos with a whole school approach that models positive caring behaviours
● Hold Collective Worship and assemblies where the importance of being respectful and valuing others is discussed by children and adults. We demonstrate our values by every member of the school community having a voice.
● Have a curriculum that supports the learning of positive behaviours through our PSHCE, RE and Godly Play

Responding to Bullying
There are clear messages around the school that Bullying is never acceptable. The school actively promotes anti-bullying through Collective Worship, PSHCE and the annual focussed anti bullying/friendship week. We recognise the full range of types and categories of bullying including physical, emotional, cyber, sexual, homophobic and racial. We seek to create an environment where everyone is welcomed and included and diversity and difference is celebrated. The following is a list of actions available to staff depending on the perceived seriousness of the situation. The emphasis is always on a caring, listening approach as bullies are often victims too – that is often why they bully.
• Discussions with the victim. This will require patience and understanding. Remember – listen, assess, act
• Identify the bully/bullies. Obtain witnesses if possible. Advise the Headteacher
• Discussions with the bully/bullies. Confront them with the details and ask them to tell the truth about the situation/incident. Make it clear that bullying is not acceptable at St John’s Church of England School
• If they do not own up, investigate further. If it is clear that they are lying, continue with the investigation. Children usually own up if presented with all the facts
• If they own up then follow the procedure outlined below:
Separate discussions with parents of bully and victim.
Sanctions for the bully may include withdrawal from favoured activities, loss of playtimes, exclusion from school during lunchtimes, exclusion from school, depending on the perceived severity of the incident(s).
Continue monitoring the situation by observing at playtimes/lunchtimes and having discussions with the victim to ensure no repetition.
As the behaviour of the bully improves, then favoured activities etc. can be reinstated, and the child should be praised for good behaviour. This will rebuild the child’s self-esteem, which may have been damaged after being caught bullying, or could have been low anyway, hence the bullying.
• In order to prevent and identify incidents of bullying and the identities of bullies, at St John’s Church of England School we have agreed to carry out the following strategies:
• All staff watch for early signs of distress in pupils
• All staff listen, assess, act
• Appropriate teaching from the PSHCE curriculum (mediation, social stories, collaboration, circle of friends, peer befriending, buddy systems, circle time)

A sanction must be proportionate. In determining whether a sanction is reasonable, section 91 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 says the penalty must be reasonable in all the circumstances and that account must be taken of the pupil’s age, any special educational needs or disability they may have, and any religious requirements affecting them.

 

 

Support
St John’s will apply appropriate support to each individual case and child. Teaching from the PSHCE curriculum and Collective Worship will be fine tuned as appropriate. Mediation, social stories, collaboration, circle of friends, peer befriending, buddy systems, circle time and/or restorative practice will be used as appropriate to the situation. Staff will be very aware of looking for potential self esteem and self advocacy needs that require positive reinforcement.

 

 

Reporting and Recording Bullying (Form 1 and 2)
● All bullying (including cyberbullying) racist incidents are recorded and a confidential record is kept in the Headteacher’s office.
● Inform the parents of the victim and perpetrator in the event of any bullying (including cyberbullying) or racial harassment
● Keeping records of bullying incidents will enable us to:
• manage individual cases effectively;
• monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of strategies;
• celebrate the anti-bullying work of the school;
• demonstrate defensible decision making in the event of complaints being made;
• engage and inform multi-agency teams as necessary

 

Roles of staff
The implementation of the policy is the responsibility of everyone within our school community. The responsibility for keeping the issue of anti bullying at a high level of priority at all times and in all areas, is that of Headteacher, Mrs Langeveld, our Deputy Headteacher and Senco, Anna Pyatt and our Send Governor, Mrs Julie Griffiths.
The Headteacher’s termly report to Governors will inform them of any bullying and racist incidents, the actions put in place as a result and an update on the effectiveness of the actions. Role of Parents/Carers and the Wider Community
We aim to work in partnership with parents and carers to help all pupils to achieve their potential. Parents and carers have an important role to play in actively encouraging their child to be a positive member of St John’s. If bullying is reported to the school, parents and carers need to be informed in a sensitive and responsible manner.
If parents or carers have concerns over bullying behavior they should take up those concerns with the class teacher, Deputy Headteacher or the Headteacher as soon as possible. Parents or carers should take up any concerns they have with the school and not the parents or carers of other parties. The best place to resolve conflicts between children is in the school where all sides and aspects of incidents can be explored.
Parents and carers are expected to exercise reasonable confidentiality around incidents in which they are involved. In particular, parents/ carers are requested not to spread stories about incidents as partial information can be inaccurate and affect the reputations of individual children and the school.
Parents/carers will be informed of any significant incidents involving their children in order to support their children and the school in seeking resolution and restoring a safe environment for all children.
If, as a parent/carer, you are not satisfied with how a situation has been handled, you can speak to our impartial, SEND Governor, Mrs Julie Griffiths, who is contactable via the school office.

 

 

Resources and Materials
The provision of good quality resources and materials to support discussions in the classroom is a high priority. Our Curriculum resources aim to:
● reflect “the reality of an ethnically and culturally diverse society”
● reflect a variety of viewpoints
● show positive images of males and females in society including disabled people
● reflect non-stereotypical images of all groups in a global context
● include materials to raise awareness of equal opportunity issues
● be equally accessible to all members of school community consistent with health and safety
● not include explicitly and implicitly racist or sexist materials.

 

 

Language
We recognise the importance of ‘talk’ in supporting the development of a child. Within this we recognise that it is important that all members of the school community use appropriate language
which:
● does not transmit or confirm stereotypes
● does not offend
● creates and enhances positive images of particular groups identified at the beginning of this document
● creates the conditions for all people to develop their self esteem
● uses correct terminology in referring to particular groups or individuals.

 

Staffing and CPD
We are bound by the legal requirements of the Equality Act of 2010 and guided by the Hertfordshire Policy on Equal Opportunities in Employment.
It is our policy to provide staff with training and development which will increase awareness of the needs of different groups of pupils in the various dimensions of equality of opportunity.

Monitoring and evaluation:
Our anti-bullying policy is identified as an area requiring careful and ongoing monitoring throughout the curriculum and across all aspects of school life. The National Strategies Behaviour and Attendance audit tool for primary schools will be implemented as part of the monitoring process.
All members of our school community have a right to feel safe and to be listened to and will be asked to take part in the evaluation process.
All staff are responsible for monitoring the impact of this policy on practice. The Headteacher is responsible for ensuring that our aims are communicated to all staff and are adhered to.

Legislation
Equality Act of 2010
Guided by the Hertfordshire Policy on Equal Opportunities in Employment.
‘Preventing and responding to bullying’ – Policy and practice guidance for Hertfordshire schools Anti-bullying charter