Rating description:
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Fully met: We collect data about whether this group is more at-risk of being bullied / bullying others (or if this type of bullying is an issue in school), and this data shows us they are not more at-risk than their peers (or the type of bullying isn’t a concern within school). We also actively work to prevent and respond to any bullying targeted at these pupils.
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Partially met: We collect data about whether this group is more at-risk of being bullied / bullying others (or if this type of bullying is an issue in school), and this data highlights that this group is more at-risk (or this type of bullying is an issue in school), therefore we are actively working to prevent and respond to this type of bullying.
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Not yet met: We do not collect data about whether this group is more at-risk of being bullied / bullying others (or if this type of bullying is an issue in school).
Care-experienced young people (i.e. looked after children and those who have been in care) are among the groups who are most at risk of bullying.
A study by the National Centre for Social Research found that care-experienced young people aged 14 years were 1.56 times more likely to be bullied than those who had not been in care, 1.72 times more likely to be bullied at age 15 and 1.75 times more likely to be bullied at age 16.
Below you will find links to information, tools and resources to help you tackle bullying of care-experienced children. We will also be adding more tools, resources and more case studies and examples from participating schools throughout the programme so do check back.
We will be asking you to submit supporting evidence of your work on this area in the final audit, along with sections 1-6.
Tips:
- Staff awareness: Ensure staff understand the reasons why a young person might be in care, the additional challenges they experience and how this might affect them. Teachers should have training on how they can better support care-experienced children for example giving them this course to complete. Involving someone with experience of being in care would make this training even more powerful.
- Consider the impact of school activities: Be aware of actions that could make care-experienced young people feel different and ensure that all activities are inclusive and that issues are handled sensitively with the care-experienced young person leading decisions made about what is shared with other pupils.
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It’s important to remember to talk about diverse families and not just two parent families. This should be weaved throughout the curriculum and school life to ensure it doesn’t make care-experienced young people feel like they stand out. You could also celebrate examples of celebrities that have been in care.
- Here are ten examples of celebrities who were in foster care
- Here are examples of children’s books that involve talking about adoption
- ABA has developed a short online training course on looked after children and bullying, which includes key issues and how to prevent and respond to bullying of care-experienced young people.
- Children tell us they prefer restorative approaches that look into the reasons for children’s behaviour. A restorative approach might work for care-experienced young people who are involved in bullying. It can support them to feel empowered and more confident. You can read more about restorative practice here.
- The school should ask care-experienced pupils (especially those currently in care) how they can better support them. Building trust is key for care-experienced young people in speaking out about bullying.
- We have developed two open-access information tools to support parents and carers:
Resources and examples:
Looked after children and bullying
What can schools do to support looked after children?
Below you will find case studies and examples from schools that have taken part in our programmes and links to external resources.
Schools who took part in our programme said:
Some of our Looked After Children have inadvertently become ringleaders due to their experiences and we have implemented systems to support them with this behaviour. We have check-ins with them, we use visuals and comic strip conversations to explain their behaviours and the impact it has on others. We also have a virtual school teacher who works specifically on teaching social skills to the children.