Taynuilt PS ‘Respect Me’ Anti-Bullying Policy
“Every child has the right not to be bullied”
United Nations Convention on the rights of the child 1989
European Convention Human rights Equality Act 2010
Why do we need a policy?
Bullying is never acceptable and this message should always be prevalent and continuously reinforced in all of the work that the school does. This can be done in a number of ways through daily practice.
All staff must be familiar with and operate consistently from this policy and Argyll & Bute Council’s policy and further information on the responsibilities of staff can be found in the Argyll & Bute: Education, Anti-bullying policy.
Partnership working ensures that everyone involved understands the needs, concerns and capabilities of each partner and by working together the implementation of the policy is more likely to be successful in a mutually supportive environment.
- All staff
- Parents/Carers
- Children
- Community links – clubs
What do we mean by bullying?
At Taynuilt Primary School, bullying behaviour can include:
- Being called names, teased, put down or threatened
- Being hit, kicked, pushed or tripped
- Having belongings taken or damaged
- Being ignored, left out or rumours spread
- Receiving abusive messages electronically
- Behaviour which makes people feel that they are not in control of themselves
- Being targeted because of who you are or who you are perceived to be
Prejudice- based Bullying
Bullying behaviour may be related to prejudice-based attitudes and behaviours which may compound other differences or difficulties in a child or young person’s life. These include:
Homophobic Bullying
Homophobic bullying behaviour is mainly directed towards young people who have identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) or young people who are questioning their sexuality. Bullying behaviour can also be directed at young people who are perceived to be different for not conforming to strict gender norms. Ultimately, any young person can experience homophobic bullying behaviour and any young person can display homophobic bullying behaviour if negative attitudes, language and behaviour remain unchecked.
Racist Bullying
Racist bullying is a term used to describe prejudicial bullying based on someone’s race or ethnicity or someone’s perceived race or ethnicity. Children from ethnic minorities are more likely to experience bullying behaviour. The impact of racist bullying can go far beyond the individual person. This bullying behaviour can impact on their family and others perceived to be from the same or similar group. For example, children and young people from Gypsy/Traveller communities frequently report racial bullying behaviour. Racist bullying can take a variety of forms. Verbal abuse includes name calling, offensive mimicry of accent and/or pretending not to understand what is said. Mockery and mimicry may extend to dress, religious observance, diet and country of origin or perceived country of origin.
Non-direct bullying behaviour may include graffiti, vandalism of property, flaunting of racist badges, slogans, leaflets etc.
Disablist bullying
Disablist Bullying is the term used to describe the bullying behaviour of someone based on their physical, mental or learning disabilities or perceived disability. Nearly all children and young people with a learning disability are bullied.
People who display bullying behaviour may see children and young people with disabilities as being less able to defend themselves and less able to tell an adult about the bullying behaviour.
Some children and young people may also experience mockery of their specific disability or disabilities: mockery of their contribution to work or play and refusal by other children to work, play or interact with them.
Low self-esteem often found in children and young people with disabilities can lead them to make friends with people who exploit them, and who, in reality, aren’t really ‘friends’ at all. This lack of confidence may also mean that they get hurt more easily and are less resilient in relationships with other children. In turn, there is a risk that the outward signs of bullying – a change in behaviour, low mood, dishevelled clothing or bruises – may not be picked up by adults as an indicator of bullying behaviour.
Bullying and Body Image
Bullying behaviour on the grounds of body image/size/obesity is one of the most prevalent forms of prejudice-based bullying. Recently, the level of such bullying has been exacerbated by national concerns about rising levels of obesity. The media’s constant reinforcement of concerns about body image/size/obesity and the trivialisation of these issues is a key factor related to this problem.
Body image is hugely important to children and young people and bullying because of body image can have a real negative impact. The impacts of bullying behaviour on the grounds of body image can manifest in the development of poor eating habits and eating disorders.
Bullying: Sectarianism Religion and Belief
Bullying based on religion is directed against individuals and groups because of their actual or perceived religious belief or their connection with a particular religion or belief. For example, someone may be targeted because of the religion of a friend or family member, or because they are wrongly assumed to belong to a particular faith community, due to their appearance. As well as religious intolerance and bullying behaviour between one faith against another, bullying behaviour can also occur because of differences (or perceived differences) between different denominations or sects within the same faith, e.g. between Catholic and Protestant Christian. Sectarianism and religious intolerance put children and young people at greater risk of bullying directly and indirectly.
Sexism and Gender
Gender stereotyping based on the notion of acceptable and unacceptable male and female behaviour can leave children and young people who do not conform to these notions vulnerable to indirect and direct bullying. Personality traits that do not fit into the unwritten rules of ‘appropriate’ male and female behaviour can make children and young people a target for their perceived difference. For example, boys portraying compassionate and sensitive characteristics and girls who are seen as being assertive and loud can lead to bullying, questioning and targeting of their gender.
Bullying and Looked after & Accommodated Children and Young People
Children and young people who are looked after and accommodated (LAAC) by the local authority are vulnerable to bullying behaviour for a number of reasons. This can be due to regular changes in schools or care placements which can make forming friendships difficult, poor relationships skills stemming from attachment difficulties, inappropriate reactions to situations as a result of learned behaviours, a reluctance to make friends, low self-esteem, lack of role models and a heightened sense of the need to preserve privacy.
Looked after and accommodated children and young people may have very similar experiences of bullying behaviour to other young people, but often the bullying behaviour will focus directly on the fact that they are looked after.
Bullying and Young Carers
The lives of young carers can be significantly affected by their responsibility to care for a family member. Young carers may find themselves being bullied because of the differences or perceived differences in their family circumstances.
What steps do we take to ensure that the ethos of the school is positive, respectful, caring and open so that bullying behaviours will not thrive?
- Children’s awareness and understanding of their rights and responsibilities is developed
- All children are listened to and valued
- The importance of dealing with the behaviour rather than assigning blame to a child is recognised
- Positive relationships are encouraged where all children are included
- A positive ethos is reinforced through all areas of the curriculum
- A respectful environment is at the core of successful learning and this is developed consistently throughout the school
- Health and Wellbeing is a responsibility of all staff and is part of core teaching. Curriculum for Excellence aspires to develop four capacities to become successful learners, confident individuals, responsible individuals and effective contributors
- The school will work with parents and carers to ensure there is a wide understanding of the school policy and practices and will encourage parents/carers to adopt and model a respectful attitude as well as teachers and other school staff.
How will the school reinforce this ethos in relationship to bullying?
- Investigate the cause
- Monitor the impact
- Record instances of bullying and discuss with pupils using a specially designed questionnaire that asks the children to rate the impact the bullying incident has on them
- A checking procedure has been put in place to ensure that the bullying does not start again at a later date.
- Involving children in the process to help encourage ownership, asking them what they would like to happen next
- Be consistent and fair
- Evaluate own prejudices and attitude with the help of a critical friend
- Develop a buddy system to help the children peer assess their behaviour
- Develop a ‘family’ ethos within the school to promote children looking out for each other in the playground
- Make use of Learning Story jotters to allow the children to reflect and evaluate their experiences
- Share information, resources and practice with parents
- Demonstrate a commitment to dealing with the cause and impact of bullying in a sensitive, mutually respectful and constructive manner to build a capacity in all adults who play a role in the lives of children
- Use a coaching approach with children to resolve an incident of bullying
- Develop a forward looking process to enable children to learn and improve their life experiences by learning skills that will allow them to deal with a variety of incidents independently while also knowing when adult help is required.
What are the possible signs of bullying to be aware of?
- Changes in mood and behaviour
- Increased anxiety
- Scratches and bruises that can’t really be explained
- Child doesn’t want to go to school or has trouble with schoolwork
- Changes in the route that is taken to school
- Torn or damaged clothing
- Child doesn’t want to go out and play with friends
- Unexplained head or stomach pains
- Easily upset, unexplained tears or ill-tempered behaviour
- Fear or alarm when text messages/emails are received
- Spending more time online or changing online behaviour
What are the possible impacts of bullying?
- RAW – children might try to Resist it, Acquiesce, Withdraw
- ANTICIPATION of something bad going to happen
- Changes to school attendance
- Eating disorders – too much/too little
- Violence towards others
- Self-harm
- Depression
- Limited aspirations
- Bullying behaviours
What are the impacts of bullying behaviour on families?
- Stress
- Anxiety
- Guilt
- Anticipation
- Strained relationships
- Helplessness
- Concerns regarding authority figures or establishments (lack of trust)
- Aggression in the household
What are the impacts of bullying on the school and staff?
- Relationship difficulties
- Undermining positive ethos and practice
- Group working difficulties
- Inhibit learning
- Inhibit group dynamics
- Lack of attendance
- Pressure on support services
What are the cultural pressures on children?
- Bullying behaviour celebrated in the media
- Difficulty in promoting pro social behaviour
- Negative messages in the media
- Negative role models
- Blame culture – everybody out for themselves
- Sectarianism
- Widespread use of internet and having mobile devices from a young age
What will happen when a concern about bullying behaviour is reported or observed?
- All children involved will be treated with respect and listened to by teachers
- A child-friendly incident form is used to record incidents
- The incident is recorded with participation and agreement from the children involved to ensure an understanding is reached on the incident
- Children are helped to take responsibility for their actions and develop an understanding of the impact through discussion
- Staff will give children their full attention in a suitable environment and use questions that are non judgmental to establish the facts
- Reinforce that the child has done the right thing by sharing the incident with a member of staff
- Let the child speak without interruption whenever possible
- Involve the child in working out the next step
- Staff need to be aware that even when the bullying incident is resolved, the impact may still be felt and need long-term monitoring and support
- Recording processes using SEEMiS Pastoral Notes are in place and established
When will the school communicate an incident of bullying to parents/carers?
- Staff will decide on an individual basis based on the impact of the behaviour when it is necessary to inform and consult with parents
- Parents/carers must feel able to communicate any concerns with the school in the knowledge that the information they provide will be listened to and dealt with appropriately
- Parents/carers can contact the school at any time if they have concerns about their child being bullied
Anti bullying practices do not come in ‘one size fits all.’ Each bullying incident will be reviewed individually and a number of different practices will be adopted before finding one that is effective.
The school will adopt both pro-active and re-active measures and strategies to address bullying.
Pro-active
- Display posters with positive messages
- Include a variety of ‘anti bullying topics’ into HWB lessons, such as sectarianism, body image, the media etc.
- Have a Respect Me page on the school website with news of activities
- Hold regular cyber bullying workshops for the children and involve the local community police officer
- Invite ‘experts’ to talk to the children on a variety of topics
- Carry out termly surveys to monitor bullying in school
- Revisit ‘The Rights of the Child’ on a regular basis
- Have nurturing ‘family’ groups within the school and monitor the impact of these
- Use pastoral notes within the SEEMiS system to record information on bullying
- Promote resilience by involving the children in decision making – help them to feel in control
- Recognise achievement for being a ‘Good Citizen.’
Re-active
- Ensure that the school Respect Me policy is followed consistently
- Include issues in lessons with the children when they occur
Review
All stakeholders will review this policy on an annual basis.
Anti-Bullying Policy November 2019
additional useful bits to use
