ANTI-BULLYING POLICY (INCORPORATING RACIAL HARASSMENT)
What is Bullying?
At Mengham Junior School we call deliberate physical violence or repeated unkindness by one child or a group of children against another child who can’t defend themselves bullying.
Bullying may include any of the following sorts of behaviour:
- Hitting, punching or kicking
- Pushing or jostling
- Threats
- Teasing
- Name calling
- Damaging belongings on purpose
- Forcing the child to give money or belongings
- Deliberately not letting children play with their group of friends and isolating them
- Cyber bullying
Racial Harassment
Racial harassment may be defined as any unkind words or actions towards an individual or group because of their colour, ethnic group, culture, faith or nationality. Racist behaviour may take a variety of forms, including:
- Derogatory name-calling, insults, racist jokes.
- Ridicule of an individual for cultural differences e.g. food, music, dress, accent.
- Physical assault against a person or group because of their colour, ethnicity or nationality.
- Encouraging others to behave in a racist way.
- Use of racist graffiti, text messages, e-mails or photographs.
Dealing with incidents involving bullying and/or harassment
If a child feels they are being bullied, there are several ways they can communicate this to an adult including:
- Speaking to a trusted adult in school.
- Speaking to a parent or carer, who will then make contact with the school.
- Speaking to a Playground Buddy
- Sharing concerns with our Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA).
The victim often feels inadequate or that he/she is somehow to blame. Whatever the problem or difficulty, it is not the victim’s responsibility to stop it. It is our responsibility and we will take action promptly to intervene and to encourage disclosure in order to promote a feeling of security.
All accusations of bullying will be thoroughly investigated by a Headteacher or Assistant Headteacher, who will work with the children to ascertain whether it is a case of bullying, or children falling out. If it is found that bullying has taken place the parents of all parties will be notified and the Headteacher will work with the parents of the children who have carried out the bullying to ensure there is no repetition of the behaviour.
Lines of communication will be set up to ensure that should bullying continue, the victim has easy access to an adult they feel confident to confide in. It will be made plain to the child who has carried out the bullying that these lines of communication have been set up and that any further incident is going to be reported and dealt with immediately.
All adults involved in supervising the children who were bullied and the child guilty of bullying will be informed of the situation and will be asked to monitor the children’s behaviour closely. The events will be recorded.
The Class teacher, with the support of the Headteacher, Assistant Headteacher or Senco if necessary, will work with the child involved in the bullying to help them resolve the difficulties, which caused their actions.
Incidents involving any kind of racism will be recorded on the Hampshire Racist Incident Form, copies of which are available from the school office. Racist incidents are reported annually to county.
Children will be encouraged and expected to take their share of responsibility for ensuring that bullying is not repeated. The Headteacher will decide whether or not either or both parties would benefit from time in the Nurture Group or one to one support from the school Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA).
Mengham Junior School will endeavour to help every child in school to be and feel safe by establishing a learning environment that is free from all forms of bullying and harassment.
Anti Bullying is regularly discussed and promoted in school, through whole school assemblies and PHSE lessons. Within the curriculum, opportunities will be provided for children to explore and discuss bullying and racist issues. Friendship and relationships problems will also be covered in the course of school assemblies and class circle times. Children are encouraged to develop strategies to help them identify when they are being bullied or harassed, how to manage incidents involving bullying and/or harassment and who they can turn to for help and support should the need arise.
Incidents taking place out of school time
There are occasions when parents draw the attention of school staff to incidents of bullying taking place out of school hours e.g. on the way home from school, the sending of malicious text messages or e-mails by one pupil to another whilst at home. These will be investigated and dealt with on an individual basis.