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GUIDELINES
1. Student responsibilities
All students, particularly senior students, prefects, mediators and mentors have a responsibility either to deal with a bullying incident themselves (provided that they feel competent and confident to do so) and then to report the outcome to a relevant member of staff or to report the incident. They also have a responsibility to support and encourage students who they know or suspect are being bullied and to report their worries.
2. Staff responsibilities and procedures
Staff should be vigilant at all times with the awareness that bullying can take many forms and often occurs covertly in unstructured situations. When in doubt staff should consult Heads of Section/Year, the School Mediator or Senior Leadership Team members. Professional judgmental must be applied at all levels when assessing the severity of any incident. Where an incident involves students from another school, Walton-le-Dale staff will liaise with colleagues from the relevant school
3. Restorative approaches
This approach is a voluntary process and will only work if all involved want to make things better. All students involved in the incident/s can be brought together with a mediator (staff or student) in a safe, confidential environment to talk about:
- What happened
- Who was affected by it
- How did everyone feel
- What is going to happen to make things better
This allows the person causing the harm to take responsibility for their actions and allows them the opportunity to change their behaviour. This procedure does not involve sanctions. Where a student does not wish to participate or where the process has failed the case is referred to Student Welfare staff or Senior Leadership Team.
4. Repeated or extreme bullying incidents
If a situation persists or is extremely serious, the involvement of the Senior Management Team, Governors and parents/carers will be required. Other agencies and/or the CSA may be involved/required. In cases where a person has been physically assaulted, the police may also be involved/be called in. In such cases, or where bullying is persistent, the instigator is liable to face the full range of school sanctions, including permanent exclusion/likely to face exclusion from school.
5. Bullying against staff
By students
Similar actions to those outlined in Item 4. above should be followed. However, it may be the case that a member of staff will need extra support from colleagues or SLT when facing an individual or class in front of whom they may feel humiliated or intimidated. In these cases consideration should be given to support strategies such as team teaching, class dynamics, assistance with assertive discipline and the offer of counseling.
By colleagues
The guidance in the LCC document 'Work place and work-related bullying and harassment (2003)' should be referred to. Other routes can be explored:
- Line Manager support
- Mediation
- Professional Associations and/or Trade Unions
- Outside agencies
CONCLUSION
This policy is fundamental to the healthy life of a successful school community. All members of the school community are responsible for implementing this policy.
As a school we shall strive to:
a) Organise the community in order to minimise opportunities for bullying, e.g. provide increased supervision at problem times.
b) Use any opportunity to discuss aspects of bullying, and the appropriate way to behave towards each other, e.g. the PSHE programme.
c) Deal quickly, firmly and fairly with any complaints, involving parents where necessary.
d) Review the School Policy and its degree of success.
e) The School Staff will continue to have a firm but fair discipline structure. The rules should be few, simple and easy to understand.
f) Not use teaching materials or equipment which give a bad or negative view of any group because of their ethnic origin, sex, etc.
g) Encourage students to discuss how they get on with other people and to form positive attitudes towards other people.
h) Encourage students and staff to treat everyone with respect.
i) We will treat bullying as a serious offence and take every possible action to eradicate it from our School.
This policy is based upon:
- Walton-le-Dale Values statement;
- The National and Lancashire Healthy Schools standards;
- DfEE Circulars 10/95 and 10/99 (Appendix B);
- DfEE 12/00 Bullying - don't suffer in silence
- Lancashire County Council 2005: The Anti-Bullying School.
APPENDICES
Appendix 1: Guidance for students
Appendix 2: Guidance for parents
Appendix 3: Guidance for staff
Appendix 4: Incident of bullying flow chart
Appendix 5: Help-lines and web sites
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