Bullying
Bullying
Proud members of the Anti-bullying Alliance
Meden School is a proud member of the anti-bullying alliance. Each year we participate in The United Against Bullying Programme. The Anti Bullying Alliance is a coalition of organisations and individuals working together to achieve a vision to stop bullying, create safer environments in which children and young people can live, grow, play and learn.
Our objectives
- To raise the profile of bullying and the effect it has on the lives of children and young people.
- To create a climate in which everyone agrees that bullying is unacceptable.
- To make sure that teachers, youth practitioners, parents, carers, children and young people have the skills and knowledge to address bullying effectively.
Our values
- To make sure we are united against bullying we have set values that we believe;
- bullying in any form is wrong and should not be tolerated, and that any environment that encourages bullying, or shows indifference to prejudice and discrimination is unacceptable;
- bullying is a behaviour choice and that anyone can be encouraged to change their behaviour;
- all children and young people have intrinsic value and worth and we embrace their uniqueness and autonomy;
- children and young people should have the right to feel safe, secure and valued, and that creating a safe environment and dealing with bullying is our shared responsibility;
- children and young people should actively participate in decisions that affect them and should be supported in taking responsibility for their choices and subsequent actions;
- that people should be treated with respect and courtesy.
- respects difference and welcome diversity in our children, young people and in society in general, and believe our work should be inclusive of all;
- supports a range of positive strategies to deal with bullying and actively challenge the use of humiliation, fear, ridicule and other similar approaches in an effort to reduce bullying;
- works within the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (Articles 14 and 28);
What is Bullying?
The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) defines bullying as;
“Behaviour by an individual or group, usually repeated over time, which intentionally hurts another individual or group either physically or emotionally.” It can happen face to face or online."
Bullying can include:
- Physical (hitting, kicking, taking another’s belongings)
- Verbal (name calling, insulting, making offensive remarks)
- Indirect (spreading rumours, excluding from social groups, cyber bullying via sending malicious e-mails or text messages)
Bullying can be an attack on a group to which an individual may belong. At NOVA Trust schools, in accordance to the Equal Opportunities Policy, we will pay particular attention to any form of bullying involving:
- Race
- Sexual orientation
- Gender
- Religion
- EAL
- Disability and Special Educational Needs
- Looked After children
Reporting, Responding to and Monitoring of Bullying at Meden School
Click the above poster to enlarge.
It is important that incidents of alleged bullying are reported immediately so that appropriate action can be taken by the school in supporting all parties involved. If the incident is deemed not to be bullying, it will still be considered serious and therefore dealt with under the Behaviour Policy.
Parents are encouraged to report any concerns relating to bullying to the tutor, in the first instance, via a telephone call or email.
Students who have been bullied or have witnessed others being bullied should ideally report the incident to their tutor, as soon as possible. The staff member will investigate the allegation in order to reach a resolution, whilst keeping the Head of Year informed via our internal recording system. If the tutor is not available, students should report to any other member of staff (teaching or non-teaching) who will take appropriate action to report the matter to the tutor and Head of Year.
We will provide support to students who are bullied by:
- Assuring them that it was right to report the incident.
- Encouraging them to talk about how they feel.
- Ascertaining the extent of the problem by interviewing those involved and taking written statements where necessary.
- Trying to ensure that they feel safe by discussing strategies to remain so.
- Asking them to report any further incidents in order that bullying can be stopped.
- Seek to take a restorative approach by involving friends, peer support, mediation with the bully (with pastoral support staff or other staff) and parents/ carers where appropriate.
- Considering and applying sanctions under the Behaviour Policy.
We will provide support to students involved in bullying others by:
- Encouraging them to talk about how they feel
- Involving parents, carers and staff to ascertain what support they need, e.g. anger management, counselling.
- Using sanctions under the Behaviour Policy to impress upon the perpetrator that their behaviour is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.
- Monitoring future behaviour and taking appropriate course of action.
All incidents of bullying will be recorded to allow tracking, monitoring and evaluation. This will in all instances include:
- Incident details
- Action taken including sanctions applied
- Resolution
- Staff involved
This information will be used by the Senior Leadership Team for:
- Sharing of good practice
- Ensuring parity in dealing with incidents
- Identifying where bullying is a factor in non-attendance at school
- Exclusion data relating to bullying
At Meden we aim to create a positive learning environment where students take responsibility for their own and each other’s well-being. For example;
- Curriculum opportunities in class are used to raise awareness about bullying and our anti-bullying policy, create an anti-bullying ethos and encourage students to manage their relationships positively with others.
- We use the Personal; Development programme to develop social and emotional skills such as empathy and the management of feelings, thereby providing continuity from primary to secondary education.
- Assemblies and mentor time are also used to promote awareness of the negative consequences of bullying.
- We raise awareness through the Anti-Bullying week events in November each year, which provides a direct link to primary school experiences.
- We aim to provide understanding and tolerance of all our differences and encourage our students to disown bullying in any form.
Who can help? Who to contact?
The Meden School take incidents of bullying very seriously and would urge any student who is experiencing bullying in school to contact someone; to let us know so we can do something about it.
There are a number of people you can get in touch with.
Meden School Anti-bullying Student Ambassadors
Who are they? (click to enlarge)
Contact Miss Hickinbotham for further details
You can also speak to
- your tutor
- the Behaviour Team - Mr Harris, Mrs Rogers, Miss Hibbert
- a teacher
- Head of Year
