Balby Central Primary School

Policy for Anti Bullying

Date of Policy: October 2014
Approved by the Governing Body:
Review Date: October 2015








At Balby Central Primary School we are committed to safeguarding the emotional
well-being of all our pupils and we aim to create an ethos that ensures our pupils are
able to reach their full potential in a safe, supportive and caring environment. It is
our aim that all members of the school community are respected and accepting of
diversity.

As a school we all work together to ensure every pupil, parent and member of staff
understands our anti-bullying policy, and implements it effectively. We believe we
should all help build a caring school where we all say, know and understand that any
form of bullying is unacceptable.

We use the definition of bullying as used by Doncaster Safeguarding Childrens Board
(DSCB) adopted from the Anti-Bullying Alliance

Bullying is the repetitive, intentional hurting of one person by another (s), where the
relationship involves an imbalance of power. Bullying can be carried out physically,
verbally, emotionally or through cyberspace.
Bullying behaviour deliberately causes hurt (either physically or emotionally)
Bullying behaviour is repetitive (though one off incidents such as the posing of
an image, or the sending of a text that is then forwarded to a group, can
quickly become repetitive and spiral into bullying behaviour).
Bullying behaviour involves an imbalance of power (the person on the
receiving end feels like they cant defend themselves).

Bullying is not:
Teasing and banter between friends without intention to cause hurt;
Falling out between friends after a quarrel or disagreement;
Behaviour that all parties have consented to and enjoy (though watch this
one as coercion can be very subtle)

Our Aims
Our aims for all children at Balby Central Primary School is that they
feel safe and happy
have high self-esteem
be self-confident
value everyone in the school community for his/her own unique self
achieve their potential - socially and academically
understand that all bullying will be challenged
know that they will be supported if they are bullied

We work to raise awareness of anti-bullying through personal, social, health and
emotional education. We promote anti-bullying weeks in school and encourage
children to consider their own behaviour, strategies to react to situations and how to
positively manage relationships.



How do we recognise bullying?
Children are encouraged to report any incidents that cause them distress. Adults
working in the school should be aware of any changes evident in the childs /
childrens behaviour through observation and discussion which may be an indication
that he / she is being bullied. Particular signs we would look for may include:

be frightened of walking to and
from school
change their usual route
not want you to go on the school
bus
beg you to drive them to school
be unwilling to go to school (or
be 'school phobic')
feel ill in the mornings
begin truanting
begin doing poorly in their school
work
come home regularly with
clothes or books destroyed
come home starving (bully taking
dinner money)
become withdrawn, start
stammering, lack confidence
cry themselves to sleep, have
nightmares
have their possessions go missing
ask for money or start stealing (to
pay the bully)
continually 'lose' their pocket
money
refuse to talk about what's wrong
have unexplained bruises, cuts,
scratches
begin to bully other children,
siblings
become aggressive and
unreasonable
give improbable excuses for any
of the above
become distressed and anxious,
stop eating
attempt or threaten suicide
It is the responsibility of the whole school community to report any incident of
bullying.
How do we deal with bullying?
Children must be confident that all incidents of bullying will be taken seriously. We
will do this by ensuring:
All reports of alleged bullying are investigated in the first instance by the class
teacher.
The learning and behaviour mentor works with the children involved
The head teacher is informed of any incidents and it is clearly recorded on
SIMS
Parents are informed of the measures the school intend to take








The adult has a significant role in finding out what has happened when there has
been an incident of bullying and should:
try to remain neutral and deliberately avoid direct, closed questions
make sure each child has an opportunity to talk
ensure that the child / children involved are monitored to ensure no future
bullying takes place
inform the parents of any incident of bullying linked to their child

If there was an instance when a parent was not happy with our procedure for
dealing with bullying then parents are advised they should contact the Chair of
Governors.

Homophobic Bullying
Bullying someone because of his or her actual, or perceived, sexual orientation is
called homophobic bullying. It is one of the most invisible forms of bullying because
there is a reluctance to talk about it. The most common form of homophobic
bullying is name-calling. The term gay is frequently being used as a term of abuse.
Young people use the word gay in a derogatory way to mean rubbish, stupid and
feminine. If an instance of homophobic bullying is seen or reported, teachers must
deal with it in the same way as stated above and follow the same procedure.

How do we raise awareness about bullying?
Bullying will be addressed throughout the year in all age groups within PSHE sessions
both as planned activities and ad-hoc discussions in response to issues within class.
Teachers will use activities such as circle time, written activities and role play to
discuss situations and scenarios and provide children with a range of strategies for
dealing with instances of bullying. There will also be specific awareness events
throughout the year such as Anti-Bullying Week.

Monitoring
Incidents of bullying are recorded in the incident files for each year group and are
kept in the filing cabinet in the Deputy Heads Office. On a monthly basis bullying
and racist incidents are recorded on SIMS by the Inclusion Team.

e-Safety
Children will receive lessons as part of the PSHE curriculum relating to keeping safe
online and what to do if they feel worried or unsure about something that has
happened in such a context. Any incidents of cyber bullying will be dealt with in a
similar way to bullying within school and should be reported firstly to the class
teacher. All children have agreed to the schools ICT Code of Conduct.

Anti-Bullying Ambassadors
Each class in Year 2 to Year 6 will nominate an Anti-Bullying Ambassador to work as
part of a team led by the PSHE Lead Practitioner to support the Anti-Bullying
message throughout school, particularly during break and lunch-times. The
ambassadors will be introduced to all children during assemblies and will be
responsible for promoting the Anti-Bullying message. Their duties and
responsibilities will include:
Being visible and approachable on the playground for all children
Feeding back any incident of bullying reported to them by other children
Planning activities for their classes/key stage to raise awareness
Taking part in assemblies alongside PSHE Lead Practitioner
Being a positive role model for others in terms of their behaviour in school.

The PSHE Lead Practitioner will be responsible for monitoring the Anti-Bullying
Ambassadors and holding regular meetings to ensure they are performing their
duties and promoting positive behaviour around school.

Management of the policy
This policy will be reviewed every year. The review will include consultation with
staff, governors, pupils and parents. The effectiveness of the policy will be assessed
against the extent to which there is evidence that the aims and objectives have been
achieved.

Further Information
For further information about current initiatives and resources to support the anti-
bullying agenda visit the following websites:
* www.anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk
*www.beatbullying.org
* www.healthyschools.gov.uk