Anti Bullying

At The Federation of Hackbridge Primary School and Spencer Nursery School, we do not tolerate bullying of any kind. We follow the DfE advice document ‘Preventing and tackling bullying – July 2017’, in our approach to preventing bullying and managing any incident which might occur. Any incident of apparent bullying is fully investigated.

What is Bullying?

Bullying is defined as the repetitive, intentional harming of one person or group by another person or group, where the relationship involves an imbalance of power.

Any pupil(s) who have been strip searched more than once and/or groups of pupils who may be more likely to be subject to strip searching will be given particular consideration, and staff will consider any preventative approaches that can be taken.

Bullying is, therefore:

• deliberately hurtful
• repeated, often over a period of time
• difficult to defend against​

Bullying can include:

Preventing Bullying

In the first instance, we aim to be proactive in preventing bullying by:

• anti-bullying week activities each year across the school
• half-termly online safety lessons, including specific lessons on cyber-bullying
• regular reinforcement of our school value of Kindness
• PSHE lessons dedicated to developing positive relationships, expressing emotions and British Values,
• including tolerance and mutual respect
• teaching about the roles involved in bullying, specifically the ‘bystander’ effect
• child-friendly Anti-Bullying Policy

Bullying is often a group behaviour and involves more than just two people. Due to this we explicitly teach the children about the different roles in bully and how they can make changes to prevent bullying.

We follow the 10 Key Principles from the Anti-Bullying Alliance to support with reducing and responding to bullying.

Responding to Bullying

Victim’s response to bullying:

• tell someone responsible
• tell the bully to stop and walk away
• keep themself safe but staying away from the bully
• talk to their parents/ carer or someone they trust
• do not retaliate
• ignore the bully but do tell someone.
• do not ignore what is happening to them – it is not okay and it is not their fault.

Any member of the school community can report incidents of bullying.

In the first instance, any reports of bullying from a pupil, parent/carer or member of staff should be referred to the class teacher. Parents can also complete a Parental Concern form via the School Office. Bullying incidents that occur outside of school involving pupils attending Hackbridge and those involving cyber-bullying will be similarly addressed.

School’s response to bullying:

The following must occur if an incidence of bullying is reported by a child or parent or if a member of staff suspects bullying is taking place:

• the Senior Leadership will be informed
• the incident/s will be investigated fully
• the results of the investigation will be recorded

If bullying is found to be taking place then the following actions should take place:

• the Senior Leadership Team will be informed
• conversations will take place with the parents/carers of all children involved
• where appropriate, a restorative conversation between the children involved will be facilitated by school staff
• a Behaviour Support Plan or Support Card will be put in place
• a plan of support will be put in place for the child/ren affected by the bullying
• the situation will be monitored and children, parents/carers and Senior Leadership will kept updated
• in very serious circumstances, a decision may be made to involve the police