Feltham Community College Policies FELTHAM COMMUNITY COLLEGE Safe to Learn (Anti-Bullying) Policy Vision and Values Our core values of courage, equality, friendship, inspiration, determination and excellence sit at the heart of our community and make us strong. Standing up for what is good and helping others to make the right choices is a fundamental part of our behaviour. Any form of bullying threatens our values and will not be tolerated. We all commit to speaking up if there is any wrong doing done to us or witnessed by us. Those we speak to will take action. The key aims of Feltham Community College Safe to Learn policy are: 1. To provide a safe and happy learning environment 2. To prevent and stop bullying behaviour 3. To respond to all forms of bullying in a reasonable proportionate and consistent way. 4. To support the pupil who has experienced bullying. 5. To ensure the bully is dealt with appropriately and future behaviour modified. Consultation Surveys were conducted with staff, parents and students. All year groups were surveyed. The school council, Governors and Pastoral Mentors worked on developing the draft policy. Ongoing consultation will be sort from all stakeholders in yearly surveys and reviews. School Information A small initial sample was taken and the following were found: Parents – 30 were surveyed 1 Feltham Community College Policies The majority of parents (94%) where happy with the way FCC deals with incidence of bullying. 61% knew who to contact regarding bullying. Parents did not consider cyber bullying as an area of concern. Staff – 45 responses 67% of staff felt confident dealing with incidents of bullying. They felt that cyber bullying or its impact is the most common form of bullying they deal with. Students – 100 responses The students felt that most bullying occurs ‘in lessons’ (65%). Name calling and comments about appearance were the most common types of bullying, this was reported in each year group. The perception was that girls were more likely to be the victim of bullying than boys. What is bullying? “Bullying behaviour is the intentional hurting (physical or emotional) of one person by another where the relationship involves an imbalance of power. It is usually repetitive or persistent, although some one off attacks can have continuing harmful effect on the victim.” Anti-Bullying Alliance All forms of bullying will be taken seriously. They include: • Physical Any use of violence or physical attack which includes Common assault, Actual Bodily Harm and Grievous Bodily Harm • Verbal Persistent: name calling, sarcasm, swearing, mocking, shouting, screaming, threatening language, cussing, insulting someone’s parents or teasing • Emotional and Psychological abuse e.g. persistently: spreading rumours, isolation, excluding, tormenting, being unfriendly, dirty looks, talking/laughing about someone behind their back 2 Feltham Community College Policies • Extortion of money or property By groups or individuals, whether it is obvious e.g. asking for money or less obvious e.g. regularly asking for equipment to be loaned but never giving it back • Racially motivated bullying e.g. taunts, graffiti, gestures (These incidents have to be reported separately to Governors and external agencies) • Religious Intolerance e.g. constant questioning, verbal lack of respect • Homophobic bullying (Calling someone “gay” as a form of abuse) e.g. taunts, name calling, ridiculing sexual orientation, gestures focussing on the issue of sexuality (These incidents have to be reported to Governors and external agencies) • Online/Cyber bullying Misuse of: internet chat rooms /emailing; social networking sites; texting; and associated technology e.g. photo editing, uploading • Sexual Harassment e.g. unwanted/inappropriate physical contact, sexually abusive or inappropriate comments • Targeting of perceived weakness e.g. picking on someone because of their disability or special educational needs, laughing at someone who is different • Imported from outside e.g. where families/neighbours are in dispute Symptoms of Bullying Children who are being bullied at school will not always be prepared to tell those in authority. When a disclosure is made, it should always be treated seriously. Whilst others may not feel that certain actions or words are of a bullying nature, if the recipient feels they are being bullied that is sufficient evidence to treat the case as prima facie bullying. 3 Feltham Community College Policies We closely monitor behaviour and any changes in patterns would be investigated and followed up. Examples of these patterns can be: • unwillingness to come to school • withdrawn, isolated behaviour • complaining about missing possessions • refusal to talk about any problem • easily distressed • damaged or incomplete work What should students do if they are being bullied or witness bullying? TELL SOMEONE. This could be a teacher, parent/carer, pastoral mentor, peer mentor, cyber mentor or any other adult. Some successful strategies for dealing with bullying include: • Active listening • Increase the friendship circle for victims • Mediation by students and adults • Peer/Cyber mentors • Student Voice – active involvement in understanding and dealing with bullying – see Appendix 1 Students – How you can help Always TELL SOMEONE. Be prepared to pass on your concerns to a trained mentor or adult. Check your own behaviours to make sure you fully embrace the school values. Look out for those that are more vulnerable, and be prepared to speak up for any wrong doing. Move around the school in a calm manner. Be prepared not to follow the crowd, be an individual. Parents working with the school – How we can help 4 Feltham Community College Policies Clear communication between school, home and the student can significantly minimise the impact of all forms of bullying. Any concerns, however small they may seem, should be discussed with your child’s Pastoral Mentor. You should raise any change in the behaviour of your child with the school. We encourage you to talk to your child about incidents of bullying and if this is difficult get them to talk to a responsible adult they know. We will engage promptly with you when an issue of bullying comes to light, whether your child has been bullied or is the bully. We will reassure you that your child is safe in the school environment and ask that you work with us to help your child develop coping strategies and assertiveness skills. If your child has been bullying other students we will support you in reaching a balanced view of what has happened and ask for your support in helping your child to learn about the consequences of their actions. Staff – How you can help All staff • ALWAYS LISTEN • Will be clear that bullying is everyone’s business • Will take seriously any incident that they witness or have reported to them • Record all incidences of bullying onto PARs following the ‘Bullying Incident Flow Chart’ Appendix 2 Classroom staff –teachers and teaching assistants • Will ensure that their classrooms provide students with a safe learning environment in which bullying will not be tolerated • Will model positive relationships and communication themselves, as this conveys the College’s core values • Will be vigilant and respond appropriately to any incidents they witness or have reported to them 5 Feltham Community College Policies • Record all incidences of bullying onto PARs following the ‘Bullying Incident Flow Chart’ Appendix 2 Pastoral Mentors and Achievement Co-ordinators (ACOs) • Will investigate thoroughly reported incidents and take the appropriate steps to address the situation • Will put in the appropriate support to ensure that all parties can move forward safely • Will put in place any appropriate sanctions • Will monitor the impact of the bullying on the victim • Will refer onto other agencies if necessary • Will liaise with all parties involved Form Tutors • Will monitor the well-being of their tutees and be alert to any changes in behaviour or attendance patterns • Will foster a supportive culture amongst their form encouraging individuals to be caring of each other Senior Leadership Team • Will regularly monitor all data related to bullying • Will respond to any emerging patterns • Will review the policy in light of this monitoring Governors – How can they help • Governors are determined to provide a safe and happy environment. Tackling bullying in all its forms is a key priority. • The Governors attached to the Wellbeing Team will regularly review the incidences of reported bullying and the actions taken. • They will be part of the regular review of our anti-bullying procedures and meet with different focus groups. • They will ensure that progress towards ‘very rare incidents of bullying’ is kept on the agenda at full governors 6 Feltham Community College Policies Curriculum – How does it help? • Our half termly Pink Weeks and Red Days are designed to support students in gaining knowledge and skills which support their health and well being. • Our core values underpin planning across Departments • All students take part in an e-safety course • Our Culture and Society curriculum raises awareness of specific issues related to bullying in all its forms, anti-social and dangerous behaviour and supports strategies for making safe decisions. • Anti-bullying weeks support cross-curricular planning to raise awareness through competitions in Tutor Time and starter activities in lessons. • Assemblies are used to continue the awareness of anti-bullying and the core values throughout the year. A fully extensive Social Emotional Aspects of Learning programme that runs through all staff training and is integrated into all lesson planning. External Agencies – How they can help In some serious cases, the young person exhibiting bullying behaviour or being bullied will have more complex needs around their social and emotional behaviour. They may require one -toone intervention as part of a package of support. This may be specialist intervention from an additional agency, for example, Victim Support, Hounslow Youth Counselling Service (HYCS), Early Intervention Service (EIS), Targeted Adolescent Mental Health Service (TAMHS) or Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS). • Kidscape - http://www.kidscape.org.uk/ • Advisory Centre for Education (ACE) - http://www.ace-ed.org.uk/ • Get Connected - http://www.getconnected.org.uk/ • The Samaritans - http://www.samaritans.org/ • London Action Trust - http://www.lat.org.uk/ • National Children's Bureau - http://www.ncb.org.uk/ • ChildLine - http://www.childline.org.uk/ 7 Feltham Community College Policies Use of sanctions Sanctions will be applied fairly, proportionately and consistently. All sanctions will have three main objectives: • Impress on the bully that what he/she has done is unacceptable • Deter him/her from repeating that behaviour • Signal to other students that the behaviour is unacceptable and will not be tolerated See Appendix 2 – Bullying Incident Flow Chart Links to other policies Child Protection Conditions for Learning Looked after Children Attendance and Punctuality eSafety Safe guarding Disability and Equality Health and Safety Attached Appendices 1. Student Voice 2. Bullying incident flow chart 8 Feltham Community College Policies Appendix 1 Student Voice Buddies A number of students in Year 8 are selected and trained to support Year 7 students throughout their first year in secondary school. Each tutor group has Buddies attached to it so that students within the group become familiar with their Buddies. The Buddies help Year 7 students to organise themselves and find their way around the school. They also ensure that all students settle in and make friends. Peer Mentors Students in Years 9 and 10 provide a mentoring programme at breaktimes and lunchtimes for all students within the school. Students wishing to become Peer Mentors complete an application form and following an interview with Senior Staff successful applicants under take a training programme. The Peer Mentors are able to provide a “listening ear” for their fellow students and are able to direct them, if appropriate to additional support. They work closely with the Pastoral Mentors and SEN staff. Cyber Mentors Some of our Peer Mentors have received an additional 2 days of training with the charity Beat Bullying to become Cyber Mentors. The Cyber Mentors have taken the lead on many of the anti-bullying initiates within the school. They have presented to students in assembly raising awareness of support available within the school and on line via the Beat Bullying website. The Cyber Mentors also work on line with young people from our school and schools throughout the country offering advice and support. The school works closely with Beat Bullying and a link to this initiative can be found on the College website. Student Leaders Many of our Year 11 students act as Student Leaders. They can be seen around the College in yellow jackets during break and lunch undertaking supervisory roles. Their presence around the College supporting the staff on duty ensures that younger students can always find someone to answer any questions that they may have. It also ensures that there is a high level of visible supervision throughout the entire school site. They also act as college ambassadors looking after visitors to the college and at parent events. Student Representatives and College Council The College Council is made up of Representatives from all Year Groups and is led by the Sixth Form. This is a forum in which students can discuss any issues that they wish and have their voice heard. Student Representatives work closely with each of the Senior Leadership Teams within the college. 9 10 Feltham Community College Policies
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