Bullying
Anti-Bullying Policy
The nature of bullying
1. There are many definitions of bullying, but most consider it to be:
• deliberately hurtful (including aggression)
• repeated often over a period of time
• difficult for victims to defend themselves against
2. Bullying can take many forms, but three main types are:
• physical – hitting, kicking, taking belongings
• verbal – name calling, insulting, making offensive remarks
• indirect – spreading nasty stories about someone, non reporting of bullying incidents, exclusion from social groups, being made the subject of malicious e-mails or text messages on mobile phones
• cyber bullying / texts / msn / e-mail / websites
3. Name calling is the most common direct form. This may be because of individual characteristics, but pupils can be called nasty names because of their ethnic origin, nationality or colour; sexual orientation; or some form of disability.
All references to our policy on bullying are to be found in
Our Code of Conduct – Respecting Others
The Equal Opportunities Policy
The School Planner
The school evaluates the extent and range of bullying that takes place in two ways.
1. Student questionnaires in tutor time and PSHE/Citizenship time.
2. Analysis of orange bullying incident forms.
Bullying in Chelmer Valley High School is not tolerated and there is a culture where most students will report incidents of bullying that happen to themselves or others to teachers. All teachers are required to fill out an orange bullying incident form in the presence of the student. This is passed to the Head of Year and tutor for action OR if the incident is deemed very serious it will be dealt with straight away by the Assistant Headteacher, Student Services. This process ensures our stand against bullying is given a high priority and the students can see their complaints are taken seriously. Students are aware of the process and can refer to the page in their planner or the posters on the tutor group notice board. All bullying incidents are logged.
Sanctions against students found guilty of bullying are to be found in the Behaviour Management Policy. All inappropriate behaviour from students is classified into one of four levels (one - least serious, four - most serious) and to ensure consistency from teachers each level has its suggested range of appropriate teacher response and sanctions. Blatant bullying is deemed to be at level 3 on our scale of inappropriate behaviour and warrants the sanctions for this level. However, alternative strategies are also used to help the “bully” and the “victim” these include individual and group counselling, peer group monitoring, centres of refuge, circle time and home school agreements. Positive approaches to improve behaviour are also used.
Many of the incidents reported have “roots” outside of school which make a resolution more time consuming. Family and local incidents/disagreements can spill over into school and when this does happen parents will be asked to collect their child from the school at short notice to enable us to resolve matters.
Parents must help us to ensure we have a culture of tolerance and respect at school by promoting this at home. We urge parents to contact their child’s tutor or Head of Year as soon as possible should they have a concern about bullying.
