ANTI BULLYING POLICY

 SCHOOL ETHOS

The school recognises its Islamic foundation and aims to serve itscommunity by providing an education of the highest quality within the context ofMuslim belief and practice. It encourages an understanding of the meaning andsignificance of faith, and promotes Islamic values through the experience it offers toall its pupils. Our intention is to provide a happy caring environment in which an individual child can learn to value excellence, achieve his/her potential and discover for themselves a genuine delight in learning.

MISSION STATEMENT

“In our School – we do our best to play fairly, behave well and work together”

Vision

we strive to:

  • Provide a happy, secure and caring environment where all children are valued as individuals
  • Develop independent learning skills through a broad, balanced and inspirationalcurriculum suited to our community
  • Enable all our children to understand the wider world and be able to interactwith this, and as part of it, as responsible citizens
  • Nurture Islamic values in all aspects of school life
  • Instill a sense of belonging where each individual is respected and differencesare celebrated
  • Build self-esteem and confidence, so developing lifelong learners, who are ableto reach their full potential
  • Work in partnership with all members of the wider school community to continueto move the school, curriculum and all in it forwards

Where Children are happy, motivated and engaged in their learning and have a say in the direction of the school and their learning. Adults are welcoming, consistent, approachable, flexible and highly skilled The Islamic ethos is evident through the actions of all in the school community the learning environment reflects the high expectations.

Rational

That every child has the right to feel safe in school and enjoy their educationwithout the threat of bullying* behaviour. Our approach is to build the children’sself-esteem and confidence and for our approach to be consistent across theschool. We intend that the policy is clearly understood and shared by all,children, staff and parents. The anti bullying policy takes its place within the general aims of the school. It has close links to the SEAL, Child Protection, Behaviour, Anti-racism and PSHE policies and is set within the framework of The Every Child Matters Agenda.

Buttercup Primary’s  definition of bullying is:

Bullying is ongoing, deliberate behaviour that upsets the victim. It is behaviour that is targeted and selective and can be direct (physical or verbal) or indirect (e.g. being ignored or cyber bullying). It may be one person or a group.

 

School Procedure:

The following is a list of actions available to staff depending on the perceivedseriousness of the situation. The emphasis is always on a caring, listeningapproach as bullies are often victims too – that is why they bully.

If bullying is suspected we will:

  • Talk to the suspected victim, and any witnesses individually usingRestorative Justice procedures and questions.
  • Identify the bully and talk about what has happened, to discover whythey became involved. Make it clear that bullying is not tolerated.
  • If the bully owns up then sanction procedures outlined in the Behaviour

Policy will be followed (see appendix 1)

  • Incidents of bullying are recorded in the School Incident Log and kept in

the Head Teachers office.

  • Consistently use Restorative Justice Procedures with all children.
  • Keep an informal log of incidents if there are concerns
  • Involve all parties together to discuss the issues if agree by all parties
  • Allow children time to sort things out.
  • Support & empower children to resolve the conflict & understand their

role in the issues

  • Establish an agreement between the children where needed
  • Inform parents
  • Follow up with further discussions with individuals as and whenappropriate
  • When necessary support children individually or together
  • If the incidents persist and are causing a health and safety issue thenthe Head Teacher could instigate exclusion procedures (see Behaviour Policy) Prevention & strategies to reinforce Buttercup’s Policy on Antibullying:
  • Anti bullying week
  • Children are made aware of the strategies to deal with low level issuesand what to do in different situations including situations of cyberbullying.
  • Children participate in role play work in class as part of PSHE and SEAL
  • Making use of curriculum opportunities to raise pupil awareness eg through RE, cross curricula themes, drama, story writing and literature
  • A whole school reward system
  • Children & parents have a good knowledge of the procedure/policy
  • Children have a clear understanding of their rights & responsibilities
  • E-safety frequently discussed and taught
  • Use of Play Leaders
  • Adults to dealt with a situation, even if minor. Talking to the children may prevent the situation escalating.

 

The role of Proprietors

  • The Proprietor body supports the Head Teacher in all attempts toeliminate bullying from our school. They will not condoneany bullying at all in our school, and any incidents of bullying that do occur will be taken very seriously, and dealt with appropriately.
  • The Proprietor body monitors incidents of bullying that do occur, andreviews the effectiveness of this policy regularly. The governors requirethe Head Teacher to keep accurate records of all incidents of bullying,and to report to the governors about the effectiveness of school’s antibullying policy
  • If parent is dissatisfied with the way the school has dealt with a bullyingincident, they should follow the school complaints procedure by initiallycontacting the class teacher. If the concern remains, they should contact the Head Teacher. If they are still concerned, they should contact the Governing Body

 

The role of the Head Teacher

  • It is the responsibility of the Head Teacher to implement the schoolAnti-bullying Policy, and to ensure that all staff (both teaching and non-teaching) are aware of the school policy, and know how to identify anddeal with incidents of bullying. The Head Teacher reports to the governing body about the effectiveness of the anti-bullying policy onrequest.
  • The Head Teacher ensures that all children know that bullying isunacceptable behaviour.
  • The Head Teacher ensures that all staff, including midday supervisors,receive sufficient training to be equipped to identify and deal with allincidents of bullying.
  • The Head Teacher leads the school in making our vision a reality, whereall members of the learning community nurture, value, respect and carefor each other.

The role of all staff

  • All forms of bullying are taken seriously, and proactive measures aretaken to prevent it from taking place.
  • All adults to deal with situations quickly and by using Restorative Justice methods to prevent situations escalating.
  • All adults to follow up what they have said e.g. keeping and eye, follow up discussion etc.
  • Teachers are responsible for recording of all incidents of bullying thathappen in their class, and that they are aware of in the school. If a childis being bullied or is bullying others, the class teacher will inform thechild’s parents and the Head Teacher.
  • There is an anti-bullying proforma in which staff record all incidents ofbullying that occur both in and out of class. The school also recordincidents that occur near the school, or on the children’s way betweenschool and home, that we are aware of. All adults who witness an act ofbullying should record it in the log. This will be kept in the Head Teacher’soffice.
  • When any bullying taking place between members of a class, the teacherwill deal with the issue immediately, in accordance with the school’s procedure, including counselling and support for both the victim and perpetrator of the bullying.
  • All members of staff routinely attend training, which equips them identify bullying and to follow school policy and procedures with regard tobehaviour management.
  • A range of methods are used to help prevent bullying and to establish aclimate of trust and respect for all.

 

The role of parents

Parents have an important part to play in our anti-bullying policy. We askparents to:Look out for unusual behaviour in your children – for example, they may suddenlynot wish to attend school, feel ill regularly, or not complete work to their usualstandard. Always take an active role in your child’s education. Enquire how their day has gone, who they have spent their time with, etc. If you feel your child may be a victim of bullying behaviour, inform school immediately. Your complaint will be taken seriously and appropriate action will follow. If a child has bullied your child, please do not approach that child on the playground or their parents or involve an older child to deal with the bully. Please inform school immediately and we will deal with it following the school procedures. It is important that you advise your child not to fight back. It can make matters worse! Tell your child that it is not their fault that they are being bullied. Reinforce the school’s policy concerning bullying and make sure your child is not afraid to ask for help. If you know your child is involved in bullying, please discuss the issues with them

and inform school. The matter will be dealt with appropriately. Remember incidents are confidential, do not discuss them with other parents on the playground. Speak to school staff if you have concerns. Parents have a responsibility to support the school’s anti-bullying policy, actively encouraging their child to be a positive member of the school. If parent who is dissatisfied with the way the school has dealt with a bullying incident, they should follow the school complaints procedure (see complaints policy) by initially contacting the class teacher. If the concern remains, they should contact the Head Teacher. If they are still concerned, they should contact the Governing Body.

The role of children

What Can Children Do If They Are Being Bullied?

Each term or when incidents occur, class teachers will discuss bullying andreinforce the following strategies: Remember that your silence is the bully’s greatest weapon. Tell yourself that you do not deserve to be bullied and that it is wrong. Be proud of who you are. It is good to be individual. Try not to show that you are upset or scared. It is hard, but a bully thrives on someone’s fear.

Stay with a group of friends/people. There is safety in numbers. Be strong inside – say “No!”. Walk confidently away. Go straight to a teacher or member of staff.

If you are getting emails, texts or messages that make you feel uncomfortable please save them and show them to an adult. Do not respond to them.

Fighting back may make things worse – don’t do it. Generally it is best to tell an adult you trust straight away. You will get immediate support. Teachers will take you seriously and will deal with the bullies in a way which will end the bullying and will not make things worse for you. What do you do if You Know Someone Is Being Bullied? Take action! Watching and doing nothing looks as if you are on the side of the bully. It makes the victim feel more unhappy and on their own.

Tell an adult immediately. Teachers will deal with the bully without getting you into trouble. Do not take direct action yourself.

 

Monitoring and review

This policy is monitored on a day-to-day basis by the Head Teacher, who reports to The proprietor on request about the effectiveness of the policy.This anti-bullying policy is the Proprietor’s responsibility, and they reviewits effectiveness annually. They do this by examining the school’s antibullyinglogbook, where incidents of bullying are recorded, and bydiscussion with the Head Teacher. Proprietor analyse information forpatterns of people, places or groups. They look out in particular for racistbullying, or bullying directed at children with disabilities or special educational needs. This policy will be reviewed in accordance with the school’s review cycle,or earlier if necessary.

The school undertakes behaviour logs of classes in and outside of classroom environment.

*  Definition of bullying

Bullying is “Behaviour by an individual or a group, usually repeated over time, that intentionally hurts another individual either physically or emotionally”.  

 

Bullying can include: name calling, taunting, mocking, making offensive comments,; kicking; hitting; taking belongings; inappropriate text messaging and electronic messaging (including through web-sites, Social Networking sites and Instant Messenger); sending offensive or degrading images by phone or via the internet; producing offensive graffiti; gossiping; excluding people from groups and spreading hurtful and untruthful rumours.

Bullying comes in different forms such as:

 

Verbal

Verbal bullying is when someone is called names, threatened and made to feel bad .

Physical

Physical bullying is when someone is hit, punched, pushed or have their personal items stolen and any other kind of physical, aggressive contact.

When someone has some physical signs of bullying like cuts, bruises, torn clothes or personal belongings missing they just put it down to over active play or childish games. Many times this isn’t the cause and people who are bullied will not tell an adult or someone they trust as they believe it will make the bullies mad and make the bullying a lot worse.

Social

Social bullying is when someone is left out of games, deliberately ignored and has bad things spread about them and made to feel like an outsider eg/ Homophobic .

Cyber

With the technology age a new type of bullying was born; Cyber Bullying.

This type of bullying can be chat rooms, online, instant messaging, on a mobile phone or even e-mails .

Along with the other types of bullying, this is no exception cyber bullying does go on and has been witnessed by the Stamp Out Bullying team.

the school curriculum will deal with including bullying as an issue throughout, school life, opportunities will be covered through assembly, circle time , Islamic studies and RE.