Rating description:
- Fully met: We have a clear definition of bullying which is written into the policy. We have implemented a range of methods to ensure that the entire school community understand the definition. For example: via lessons, sessions for parents, training for school staff etc.
- Partially met: Our definition of bullying is in our school policy but it is not clear and/or it is not understood by the school community.
- Not yet met: The policy does not have a definition of bullying and it is not understood by the school community.
Tips:
- For many reasons it is vital that the school has a shared understanding of what bullying is. This includes the whole-school community including parents, pupils and ALL school staff.
- This often helps in situations where parents, children and schools don't agree that something is bullying or not and can also help when explaining the difference between bullying and banter.
- The Anti-Bullying Alliance has a wealth of resources to support you develop your shared understanding of bullying:
- Information about the ABA definition of bullying
- Links to resources to share the definition of bullying with staff and pupils
- What is bullying? online free CPD training for professionals. This could be distributed to as many school staff as you like to complete.
- Free online parent tool which includes a section on the definition of bullying
Resources and examples:
You can see tools and case studies in the attachments section below.
Schools who took part in our programme said:
We held parent workshops to educate parents and up-skill them in spotting and helping to prevent bullying behaviours. Parents were invited into school for workshops throughout the week, to work with their child(ren) and the staff.
Through staff meetings, parent meetings, assemblies and PSHE work it is clear that the school community understand the definition of bullying.
We have an anti bullying statement that is accessible from our website (section 2). All of the school’s work on anti-bullying and safeguarding is under the umbrella term “Respect 24/7”. As part of the Respect 24/7 campaign all governors, staff and students sign pledges to do their utmost to show respect to each other, the community and the environment. On signing the pledge, the person demonstrates their commitment to show the utmost respect.
Pupils engaged openly with conversations about bullying rather than accusing their peers. During a meeting with a concerned parent, one year 2 pupil was able to explain to them why what had been happening to them was not bullying.
We would like to share with other schools the importance of a clear definition for the term ‘bullying’. This has been one of the points that we have seen has helped pupils, staff and the wider community understand how to report and respond.
The key improvement to our practice has been around the labels/learning of the wider roles often present in a bullying situation. By being able to identify these, we have been able to explicitly teach children and adults about them, which has lead to both greater understanding and an easier way to hold children accountable for their actions.