In Our School

The school recognises that bullying is a reality in society but strives, by example and support, to eradicate it in all forms within our school and to develop in our pupils an appreciation of the value of working to extend this to their wider community. Pupils are encouraged to value each person as a unique creation of God. This philosophy will be reinforced through our daily practices and our school assemblies. By encouraging our pupils to respect, understand and appreciate human diversity we hope to nurture those profoundly important values which lie at the heart of a tolerant and civilised society. All pupils will also undertake work which focuses on bullying issues and it will be made clear that actions and language that are aggressive, offensive, sexist, racist or based on any differences (prejudice-based), are unacceptable and will not be tolerated.

Our School Response

We try to tackle bullying whenever it surfaces so that our children can feel safe. Our staff are around and about on corridors, stairwells and in the playground acting promptly and firmly whenever problems arise. As a result, most of our pupils thankfully experience little, if any, bullying.

We want our pupils to feel secure in a community which encourages them to speak up against bullying

What is Bullying?

We define bullying as behaviour by an individual or a group, usually repeated over time, that intentionally hurts another individual or group either physically or emotionally.

• Physical –pushing, poking, kicking, hitting, biting, taking someone’s belongings.
• Verbal – name calling, sarcasm, spreading rumours, threats, teasing, belittling, racist or sexist comments.
• Emotional – isolating others, tormenting, hiding books, threatening gestures, ridicule, humiliation, intimidating, excluding, manipulation and coercion, tormenting, graffiti.
• Sexual – unwanted physical contact, inappropriate touching, abusive comments, homophobic abuse, exposure to inappropriate films, comments relating to sex or sexuality
• Online/cyber – posting on social media, sharing photos, sending nasty text messages, social exclusion.
• Indirect –Can include the exploitation of individuals, spreading rumours, sending abusive texts, excluding somebody from a group.
  Many of these types of bullying can take place in the online environment and this is known as “CYBER BULLYING” eg. Misuse of all areas of the Internet, inappropriate messaging and emailing, sending offensive or degrading images by phone or via the Internet, misuse of any social media.

Report Bullying

In order to do this effectively we need you to report this and give us as much information as you can. If we need to speak to you be certain that this will be done discretely and no one will know that you have logged a bullying concern with us. We encourage you to report on behalf of anyone else if you feel they may be being bullied.

You can also log into our safeguarding portal to log an incident. Please report the incident whether it have happened in school, in the community or online.

What to do if you see bullying

• Comfort, support and stay with the victim.
• Tell the victim to report the incident.
• Tell somebody (e.g. a teacher) what you have seen.
• If you are in a group where one member is bullying, show that you disapprove, because by doing nothing you support the bully.

If you wish to report any bullying please contact a member of the pastoral or safeguarding team. You can also use our online portal and report through the website. This report will only be seen by Mrs Jones our Designated Safeguarding Lead.