Rating description:
- Fully met: Our school responds to bullying using a strategy based on the ABA 3-step model of response. When pupils report bullying, we affirm their action, respond calmly and discreetly, explain next steps and use recording system, involve them in decisions, and address any safeguarding concerns immediately.
- Partially met: Our school responds to bullying using a strategy based on the ABA model of response. When pupils report bullying, we affirm their action, respond calmly and discreetly, use recording system and address any safeguarding concerns immediately. However, this approach isn’t always consistent across staff members, and/or we don’t always involve pupils in decisions or explain next steps.
- Not yet met: Our school responds to bullying by addressing any safeguarding concerns using our recording systems. We do not involve the pupils who reported bullying in decisions and/ or explain next steps.
Why is this important?
A structured approach to responding to bullying ensures that every concern is taken seriously and handled consistently. When staff affirm the pupil’s experience, respond promptly, record accurately, involve the right people, and safeguard those affected, it creates a reliable pathway for support. This prevents incidents from being minimised, overlooked, or dealt with unevenly across the school. A clear process also reassures pupils that speaking up leads to meaningful action, strengthening trust in adults and increasing the likelihood that they will report concerns.
Ultimately, a structured framework protects children, promotes accountability, and reinforces a school-wide commitment to tackling bullying effectively and compassionately.
Top Tips:
- The most important aspect of your response is securing the safety of those involved. It is then important to challenge the underlying behaviour of those involved in the incident and ensure it is constantly reviewed.
- Young people told us they wanted clarity about who to report to and how to report; to be taken seriously when they report bullying; to be kept in the loop about action taken or next steps; and to make sure that staff didn't judge the situation too quickly.
- Young people we've consulted with also told us they:
- want to be fully involved in the development of the response
- were clear that rules and expectations should be set out for all
- prefer non-sanction based responses such as a restorative approach, and want the underlying behaviour behind the incident to be challenged
- like responses which are peer-orientated (including peer mentoring and peer mediation), which would help them build wider positive relationships
- advocate for support to be a key component of the bullying response both for those who had been bullied and those who were bullying
- If a reported bullying incident is deemed to not be bullying according to your definition, there may still be a need or opportunity to respond, review or monitor the situation in order to ensure the behaviour doesn't repeat itself or escalate into bullying at a later date.
Resources and examples:
Resources
- An effective response starts with an effective recording system. Here are 5 tips for best practice when recording bullying incidents. You can also see our recording checklist here.
- Staff can access our 3-step response to bullying framework, as well as complete the accompanying CPD training course.
Examples
Please note that examples from primary and other school settings may still include some useful hints and tips you can adapt and apply for a secondary setting.
- Secondary School Case Study - on using 'investigation reports' to investigate a bullying situation in Year 10 (including an example report)
- Secondary School Case Study - on improving response to reported bullying
- Primary School Case Study - on developing a consistent and swift approach to responding to bullying
- Primary School Video Case Study - on improving reporting and response to bullying incidences.
See below for quotes and pieces of advice from other schools:
- "Any issues are logged and follow up/actions monitored by Head of Safeguarding. Any logs of bullying incidents are actioned through Therapeutic workshops and then reviewed after 1 month and then 3 months, to ensure there has been no re-occurrence and that the intervention has been successful."
- "There will always be instances that will need to be addressed, but the better the identification, follow up and support of those victims, the better. The more bullying and bullyish behaviour is highlighted and condemned, the sooner educational establishments and the wider community can work to develop students and allow them to achieve their best in school."
- "A parent reported bullying by email and stopped a child coming into school. We were able to use our new criteria in CPOMS to see whether incidents had occurred according to our Policy and definition of bullying. We were able to feed this back to the parent. While we didn't feel bullying was happening (due to the parents misunderstanding of the definition) we were able to introduce our new interventions. The child is now coming into the school regularly [... and] The parent is confident that bullying is not taking place."
Back to 5. Responding and intervention page
Note: the resources listed at the bottom of this page (below) have all been referenced in the text above.