Cale Green Primary SchoolAnti-Bullying Agenda
Here at Cale Green Primary School, we take the issue of bullying, in all its forms very seriously. In this section of the website you can read our Anti-Bullying Policy which is reviewed and updated annually, our school's charter and our child-friendly Anti-Bullying leaflet which has been designed and written by the children at Cale Green. If you have any issues with bullying please contact school.
Aims and Purpose of the policy
At Cale Green Primary School, we are committed to working with children, staff, governors and parents / carers to create a school community where bullying is not accepted.
At our school the safety, welfare and well-being of all pupils and staff is a key priority. Our school is a place where people have the right to be themselves, to be included and to learn in a safe and happy environment. Everyone at our school is equal and treats each another with respect and kindness.
Bullying of any kind is unacceptable and will be identified and thoughtfully dealt with at our school. We take all incidences of bullying seriously and it is our duty as a whole school community to take measures to prevent and challenge any bullying, harassment or discrimination.
We actively promote values of respect and equality and work to ensure that difference and diversity is celebrated across the whole school community. We want to enable our pupils to become responsible citizens and to prepare them for life in 21st Century Britain. These values reflect those that will be expected of our pupils by society, when they enter secondary school and beyond in the world of work or further study.
The purpose of this policy statement is to:
- prevent bullying from happening between children and young people who are a part of our organisation or take part in our activities
- make sure bullying is stopped as soon as possible if it does happen and that those involved receive the support they need
- provide information to all staff, volunteers, children and their families about what we should all do to prevent and deal with bullying.
We are committed to improving our school’s approach to tackling bullying and regularly monitor, review and assess the impact of our preventative measures.
We define bullying as:
Bullying is the purposeful choosing of behaviours that threaten, intimidate or hurt someone, which is often, but not always, repeated overtime, which involves a real or perceived power imbalance.
We acknowledge that bullying takes many forms and may include relationships, intimate relationships, online or face-face.
We will seek to prevent bullying by:
- developing a code of behaviour that sets out how everyone involved in our organisation is expected to behave, in face-to-face contact and online, and within and outside of our activities
- holding regular discussions with staff, volunteers, children, young people and families who use our organisation about bullying and how to prevent it
- providing support and training for all staff and volunteers on dealing with all forms of bullying, including racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic and sexual bullying
- putting clear and robust anti-bullying procedures in place.
Our regular discussions with staff, volunteers, children, young people and families will focus on:
- group members’ responsibilities to look after one another and uphold the behaviour code
- practising skills such as listening to each other
- respecting the fact that we are all different
- making sure that no one is without friends
- dealing with problems in a positive way
- checking that our anti-bullying measures are working well.
Identifying and Supporting Vulnerable children
We work closely in school to identify particularly vulnerable groups, perhaps minority ethnic groups, travellers, refugees, LGBTQ+ pupils, midterm arrivals, pupils who transfer late into the school, children or young people in care, young carers, teenage parents and those with other special needs who may find it more difficult to build and maintain friendships.
As a school we plan positive action to support these pupils with all relevant staff members and provide additional support where necessary, for example peer support through buddy schemes and help them access clubs and out of school provision.
Who is bullied?
Anybody could be subject to bullying at any time in their life. It is not only something that affects children and young people.
A person is bullied when, either as an individual or part of a group, she or he suffers in any way from the direct result of intentional and persistent harassment and / or victimisation by another individual or group.
A person who has been bullied may commonly find it difficult to combat victim behaviour or report their experiences to those who may be able to help them.
Below are some factors that may increase vulnerability:
Schools must refer to the Equality Act 2010 and the 9 protected characteristics within it, when dealing with bullying related incidents.
Some groups of children and young people are understood to more susceptible to incidents of bullying (children who display bullying behaviours or children who are targeted), including those who:
- are in foster care or residential homes (looked after children)
- are understood to be at risk from a range of safeguarding or child protection issues i.e. safeguarding / organised crime groups
- have specific special educational needs/a disability
- are from minority ethnic backgrounds
- are refugees or asylum seekers
- start a school or activity group mid term
- from the LGBTQ+ community or those who may be exploring their gender identity
- have English as a second language
- are young carers
- have suffered physical or emotional trauma including domestic abuse, acrimonious separation, or bereavement
- have a parent that was a victim of bullying.
- experienced poverty or deprivation
Types of Bullying
There are a number of bullying behaviours that can be summarised as:
- Physical aggression – hitting, kicking, tripping up, spitting, taking or damaging property, use of threat or force in any way, intimidation or demands for money or goods
- Verbal – name calling, insulting, teasing, ‘jokes’, mocking, taunting, gossiping, secrets, threats. Reference to upsetting events e.g. bereavement, divorce, being in care
- Non-verbal – staring, body language, gestures
- Indirect – excluding, ostracising, rumours and stories, emails, chat rooms, messaging phones, notes, inappropriate gestures
- Cyber – text messaging, internet chat rooms, the use of social media applications such as Snapchat, Instagram or WhatsApp, the misuse of camera or video facilities (including the self-generated inappropriate images), offensive questions and nasty inbox messages.
- Shaming people online, encouraging people to self-harm, creating fake accounts.
- Emotional – threatening or humiliating
- Exclusion – isolating individuals and controlling behaviour
Some behaviours may be deemed to be abusive and may fall under the categorisation of child on child abuse please cross reference with your safeguarding policy.
- Parental incitement- please cross reference with other policies such as the Respect Charter
Hate Crime
Some bullying behaviours may also be considered as hate crime, this would include, for example targeting a child or young person on grounds of race, sexual identity/orientation, race or disability. We acknowledge that some acts of bullying will constitute a criminal offence and, in these cases, other organisations will need to be contacted e.g. the Police or Social Care.
Child on Child Abuse
Children and young people who harm others (also referred to as Child on Child abuse):
Child on Child abuse can take various forms, including serious bullying (including cyber-bullying), relationship abuse, domestic violence, child sexual exploitation, youth and serious youth violence, harmful sexual behaviour, and / or gender-based violence.
There is no clear boundary between incidents that should be regarded as child on child abuse and incidents that would be considered as bullying, sexual experimentation, etc.
Assessments must be made on a case-by-case basis. (Firmin, C. 2017. Abuse Between Young People). Our school has a clear pathway for dealing with such incidents.
Derogatory Language
Derogatory or offensive language is not acceptable and will not be permitted. This type of language can take any of the forms of bullying listed in our definition of bullying. It will be all challenged by staff and recorded and monitored on CPOMs and follow up actions and consequences, if appropriate, will be taken for pupils and staff found using any such language.
Prejudice-based Incidents
A prejudice-based incident is often unkind or hurtful behaviour that is motivated by a prejudice or negative attitudes, beliefs or views towards a protected characteristic or minority group.
It can be targeted towards an individual or group of people and have a significant impact on those targeted. All prejudice-based incidents are taken seriously and recorded and monitored in school, with the head teacher regularly reporting incidents to the governing body. This not only ensures that all incidents are dealt with accordingly, but also helps to prevent bullying as it enables targeted anti-bullying intervention.
Possible indicators of being a victim of bullying include:
We recognise that the following behaviours may suggest someone is being bullied or is bullying.
However, we also recognise that the list is not exhaustive.
- disturbed sleep
- bed-wetting
- head and stomach aches
- problems with concentration,
- changes in behaviour and attitude
- truanting
- bullying other children
- damaged or missing clothes / money / property,
- asking for more money than usual or stealing money
- withdrawn or changes in their usual behaviour patterns or attitude
- distressed or emotional and finds it hard to articulate their feelings
- changes in their eating patterns
- changes in their online activity including not wanting to talk about it or share experiences
- shows evidence of self-harming or suicidal ideology
- is unusually tired without a reasonable explanation
- has unexplained bruises or marks on their body, (some may refuse to change for PE)
- repeatedly comes to school without dinner money or a packed lunch
- seems afraid to be alone and requires more adult interaction.
School initiatives to prevent and tackle bullying
Anti-bullying is addressed throughout the year as part of the schools PSHE programme and through a range of ‘drop down’ activities such as:
- PSHE week - 1st week in September
- Anti-bullying week
- PSHE week - Safer Internet Day in February
- Keeping Ourselves Safe Week – June
- School assemblies
- Child produced anti-bullying leaflet
- Promotion of trusted adults
- Worry Box
- Class ‘ask-it baskets’
- Peer support initiatives
- Show Racism the Red Card
We use a range of measures to prevent and tackle bullying including:
- proactive teaching and learning around how to build and maintain healthy relationships, including explicit work on how to appropriately manage conflict within relationships.
- a child-friendly anti-bullying policy ensures all pupils understand and support the anti-bullying policy
- the PSHE programme of study includes opportunities for pupils to understand about different types of bullying and what they can do to respond and prevent bullying
- school assemblies help raise pupils’ awareness of bullying and derogatory language
- diversity and inclusivity are continually celebrated across the school through all our work including our curriculum, displays, books and images. The whole school participates in events including Anti-Bullying Week, Black History Month and LGBTQ+ History Month, Safer Internet Day
- the use of stereotypes and derogatory language are consistently challenged by staff and pupils across the school
- peer Supporters and buddies offer support to all pupils, including those who may have been the target of bullying
- restorative approaches provide support for the harmed and harmer plus any other affected parties involved in any bullying incident.
- pupils are continually involved in developing school-wide anti-bullying initiatives through consultation with groups, for example through the school council or and through the child-friendly anti-bullying policy assembly.
Reporting – roles and responsibilities
SENIOR LEADERS:
The Head teacher and senior leaders have overall responsibility for ensuring that the anti-bullying policy is understood and followed by all members of the school community and ensures the school upholds its duty to promote the safety and well-being of all young people. Gill Rogers, is the Senior Leader responsible for anti-bullying.
STAFF:
All school staff and volunteers have a duty to report bullying, to be vigilant to the signs of bullying and to play an active role in the school’s measures to prevent bullying. If staff become aware of bullying, they must reassure the pupils involved and inform relevant staff in line with school guidance.
The following staff members are anti-bullying leads:
- Sarah McHugh (Headteacher)
- Nicola Lewis (Deputy headteacher)
- Carole Harding (Deputy headteacher)
- Gill Rogers (Child and Family Support worker)
PARENTS AND CARERS:
Parents and Carers should look out for potential signs of bullying such as distress, lack of concentration, feigning illness or other unusual behaviour.
Parents and carers should encourage their child not to retaliate, support, and encourage them to report the bullying when it occurs.
When parents have concerns, we would encourage them to speak with us at the earliest opportunity. We find that it is much more effective to speak to the school when an incident occurs and not to post it on social media as this may affect and delay any investigations and outcomes.
Parents and carers can report an incident of bullying to the school either in person, or by phoning or emailing the school office: schooladmin@calegreen.stockport.sch.uk
Pupils should not take part in any kind of bullying and should watch out for signs of bullying among their peers. When finding themselves alongside an incident of bullying, they should attempt to offer support to the victim and, if possible, help them to tell a trusted adult.
Parents and Carers must also give due regard to and follow the principles of our Respect Charter on school premises towards pupils, staff and other parents.
Non-school staff, volunteers and outside organisation (Sports Coaches, music teachers, support services etc) also need to be made aware of the school’s policy and the reporting of incidents
Dealing with an incident
When bullying has been reported, the following actions will be taken:
- Staff will investigate and record the bullying on the school’s incident reporting form and also record the incident centrally on CPOMs
Restorative meetings should be offered for any incident, this includes race or hate, homophobic and transphobic incidents) Please note that participation in any restorative repair meeting should be voluntary
- Designated school staff will monitor incident reporting forms and information recorded on CPOMs analysing and evaluating the results.
- Designated school staff will produce termly reports summarising the information, which the head teacher will report to the governing body.
- We will offer support to all involved within a bullying incident. Individual meetings will be held with all parties to devise a plan of action that ensures all feel listened to and supported.
- Staff will pro-actively respond to these plans, with all parties possibly requiring support and work with other colleagues as appropriate.
- Staff will decide whether to inform parents or carers and where necessary involve them in any plan of action.
- Staff will assess whether any other services (such as Police or the Local Authority) need to be involved, particularly when actions take place outside of school.
Safeguarding procedures must be followed when child protection concerns arise.
Bullying outside of school
Bullying is unacceptable and may take place on the way to and from school, before or after school hours, at the weekends or during the holidays, or in the wider community. The nature of cyber bullying in particular means that it can impact on pupils’ well-being beyond the school day.
School will use their support systems when it becomes apparent that any incident of bullying is having an impact on an individual and/ or the school community.
Please refer to:
Training and Awareness
The headteacher is responsible for ensuring that all school staff and volunteers receive regular training on all aspects of the anti-bullying policy.
Recording and Reporting
We maintain a system of data collection and analysis in relation to any reported incidents of bullying in school. Termly feedback is made available for governors via the Headteacher report.
All staff and volunteers will use the agreed reporting format.
Monitoring and Evaluation
The headteacher is responsible for reporting to the governing body (and the Local Authority where applicable) on how the policy is being enforced and upheld, via the termly report. The governors are in turn responsible for monitoring the effectiveness of the policy via the termly report, by in school monitoring such as learning walks, and focus groups with pupils.
The policy is reviewed every 12 months, and a committee set up to oversee the review process.
Date of last review: November 2024
Head teacher signed: Mrs Sarah McHugh Chair of Governors signed: Mr. Russ Boaler
Links to other school policies and key documents
This anti-bullying policy links to a range of policies / strategies, including:
Keeping Children Safe in Education (2024)
Equalities and Diversity policy
Equality Act 2010
Behaviour policy
Care and control policy
Relationships and Sex Education policy
Respect Policy and Charter
Safeguarding policy
Responsible Use policy
School Development plan
Restorative Approaches strategy