Anti-Bullying Statement - please read our policy for further information

Bullying takes place in schools as it does in other work places.

The aim of the anti-bullying policy is to ensure that pupils in this school learn in a supportive, caring and safe environment without fear of being bullied. Bullying is anti-social behaviour and this includes cyber-bullying, it affects everyone; it is unacceptable and will not be tolerated at Cockshutt CE Primary School & Nursery. Only when all issues of bullying are addressed will pupils be able to fully benefit from the opportunities available at our school.

Bullying by definition is:

Behaviour by an individual or group, usually repeated over time, that intentionally hurts another individual or group either physically or emotionally. At Cockshutt CE Primary School & Nursery we take guidance from:

Shropshire Safeguarding Community Partnership

Anti-Bullying Policy 

This policy takes into account the following documents and is reviewed annually as part of our Governing Body Policy Reviews:  

Preventing and Tackling Bullying Advice for Head Teachers, Staff and Governing Bodies DfE 2017 

Working Together to Safeguard children DfE 2018 

Keeping Children Safe in Education DfE September 2023 

Shropshire Safeguarding Community Partnership Guidance- SSCB 

Context and understanding what Bullying is:  

Bullying takes place in schools as it does in other workplaces.  

The aim of the anti-bullying policy is to ensure that pupils in this school learn in a supportive, caring and safe environment without fear of being bullied. Bullying is anti-social behaviour and affects everyone; it is unacceptable and will not be tolerated in school. Only when all issues of bullying are addressed will pupils be able to fully benefit from the opportunities available at our school.  

Bullying by definition (DfE Preventing and Tackling Bullying 2017) is: 

Behaviour by an individual or group, usually repeated over time, that intentionally hurts another individual or group either physically or emotionally. Although sometimes occurring between two individuals in isolation, bullying quite often takes place in the presence of others 

Bullying can be related to:  

Race, religion or culture;  

Special educational needs or disabilities; 

Appearance or health conditions;  

Sexual orientation, sexist or sexual bullying;  

Young carers or looked-after children or otherwise related to home circumstances;  

Verbal (name calling, sexist, racist and homophobic remarks, and other discriminatory language);  

Indirect (cyber bullying, spreading rumours, excluding someone from social groups);  

Radicalisation and Extremism. 

Bullying includes:  

Name-calling, taunting, mocking, making offensive comments, kicking, hitting, pushing or taking belongings;  

Inappropriate text messaging and emailing, sending offensive or degrading images by phone or via the internet;  

Producing offensive graffiti;  

Gossiping, excluding people from groups, and spreading hurtful and untruthful rumours.  

Although sometimes occurring between two individuals in isolation, bullying quite often takes place in the presence of others, for example, between pupils, between pupils and staff, or between staff; by individuals or groups; face to face, indirectly or using a range of methods.  

Pupils being bullied may demonstrate emotional and/or behaviour problems including signs of depression, physical problems such as headaches and stomach pains, taking unusual absences or clinging to adults. There may be evidence of changes in work patterns, lacking concentration or truanting from school.  

Pupils are encouraged to report bullying by talking with staff, friends and parents. We believe strongly in encouraging our pupils to feel happy, safe and this in turn allows them to learn. Our school has pupil ambassadors and prefects which discuss pupil voice and all classes have regular circle time to discuss and raise issues. Anti-bullying awareness is addressed each year where an emphasis is placed on posters, assemblies, workshop and information is made available to help pupils address bullying. 

Parents are informed of the school’s stance on anti-bullying, its definition of bullying and how parents and the school can work together. Our school website has links and information regarding policies and where to seek and get help. Our school offers a warm and welcoming environment with staff available to meet and greet at the start and end of the day. Our staff are experienced and vigilant in spotting the signs of bullying and all staff receive regular training to ensure any incidents are swiftly and promptly dealt with. 

All school staff must be alert to the signs of bullying and act promptly, sensitively and effectively against it in accordance with school policy. There is no “hierarchy” of bullying – all forms of bullying should be taken equally seriously and dealt with appropriately. This is the case even where incidents occur outside the school premises (The Education Act 2006 gives head teachers the power to discipline pupils even where incidents of bad behaviour take place outside school premises and when the pupils are beyond the lawful control of school staff).  

This policy is linked directly to the following policies:  

Behaviour Policy  

Safeguarding & Child Protection Policy  

Equality Policy (Race Equality, Disability Equality, SEN policies, additional policies related to protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010)  

RSHE policy.  

Aims of this Policy  

The aims of the school’s anti-bullying strategies and intervention systems are to:  

Prevent, de-escalate and/or stop any continuation of harmful behaviour in line with the Behaviour Policy;  

React to bullying incidents in a reasonable, proportionate and consistent way;  

Safeguard those pupils who have experienced bullying and those who have been involved in the act of bullying, and to trigger actions to support these pupils.  

Roles and responsibilities  

The role of the Governing body  

Governors have the responsibility to ensure that the anti-bullying policy is in place, that it reflects school’s values and practice, and is reviewed annually. The Governing Body of Mere’s Edge Federation conduct their role professionally and with due care and attention. They are keen to provide a stimulating education provided for in a caring Christian Environment. The governors have agreed the principles of Shropshire Children’s Trust and Safeguarding Children Board Anti-Bullying Charter.  

Governors are informed of, and monitor, the numbers of incidents and steps the head teacher and staff have taken to deal with these  

Governors have appointed Mrs Mandy Jones as the Executive Headteacher leading on bullying related to radicalisation and extremism  

The role of the Executive Head teacher and staff:  

1. Policy and procedures : 

The Executive Head Teacher leads on anti-bullying:  

Name: Mrs Mandy Jones            Role: Executive Headteacher

This policy is familiar to all staff and its clear links to other key policies.  

The following steps will be taken by staff when dealing with incidents:  

• if bullying is suspected or reported, the incident will be taken seriously and appropriate first steps are taken promptly by the member of staff who has been approached  
• each incident will be investigated thoroughly, sensitively and effectively  
• a clear account of the incident, actions taken and review date will be recorded onto our online My Concern Website, given to the head teacher/senior manager and kept so incidents can be monitored  
• relevant staff will be kept informed and if the bullying persists they will record this and inform the head teacher/senior manager, and appropriate further action is taken  
• parents/carers will be kept informed appropriately  
• appropriate rewards and sanctions in line with the school’s Behaviour Policy will be used to support the improvement of pupils’ behaviour  
• Criftins CE Primary School & Cockshutt CE Primary School and Nursery will inform the Local Authority of any hate or prejudice related incident as part of the school’s Public Sector Equality Duty under the Equality Act 2010 and in support of the Shropshire Tackling Hate Crime Initiative; a report form is available in the appendices of this policy.  

2. The Role of Pupils : 

• Know that school has an Anti-Bullying Policy 

• Know and understand the difference between unkind behaviour and bullying 

• Feel confident that school will act quickly and fairly with bullying issues that are reported. 

3. The Role of Parents/ Carers: 

• Parents and carers should work in partnership with school to support pupils. 

• Report incidents of bullying 

• Look for signs of behaviour changes, which may be linked to bullying. 

• Support and encourage their child to talk to someone in school, if they are being bullied. 

4. How we support pupils  

Pupils who have been bullied will be supported as appropriate by:  

• having an immediate opportunity to discuss the incident(s) with an appropriate member of staff  
• being reassured  
• being offered support  
• raising their self-esteem and confidence  
• being encouraged to report further issues  
• arranging a review date/time to discuss outcomes and appropriate follow-up  

Pupils who have bullied will be supported by:  

• having an immediate opportunity to discuss the incident(s) with an appropriate member of staff  
• establishing what behaviour was inappropriate and why the pupil became involved  
• establishing clearly what behaviour needs to change, and how the school can support this change 
• informing parents/carers of agreed actions, and establishing how they can support  
• arranging a review date/time to discuss outcomes and appropriate follow-up  

School as required may make use of: 

Young Minds www.youngminds.org.uk 

Bullying UK www.bullying.co.uk 

Kidscape www.kidscape.org.uk 

NSPCC www.nspcc.co.uk 

5. Curriculum  

Pupils will have opportunities to develop their understanding of the nature of bullying, to explore their own and others attitudes to bullying and to develop the skills to deal with bullying through RSHE and other subject areas and through assemblies and other school activities.  The school has a regular Anti-Bullying Focus along with the national anti-bullying week where pupils focus on how we can make the change by speaking out.  

The policy will be promoted and implemented throughout the school and across our Federation. 

Monitoring, evaluation and review  

This policy was amended September 2023 and approved by the Governing Body. 

This policy is reviewed annually by the Governing Body and school staff taking into account training and research around AntiBullying. 

Review Date : September, 2023. 

APPENDIX 1 

APPENDIX 1    

As part of the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) under the Equality Act 2010, schools are requested to report prejudice/hate-related incidents to Shropshire Council.  Completed forms may be submitted by email to EducationImprovementService@shropshire.gov.uk; by Fax to 01743 254538 or by post to EIS, Shropshire Council, Shirehall, Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury, SY2 6ND.  Reports can also be made verbally on 01743 254386. 

Numbers of incidents reported and nature of those incidents are reported to the Hate Crime Reporting Sub-group. The information is used to help inform community-based interventions to counter the problems identified.  Specific support at school can be offered on request. 

School name 

Section A:  About the Incident/s 

What do you think motivated this incident? (indicate all relevant characteristics) 

  Race                             Religion / culture                       Sex                                    Disability             

                   Sexual orientation                      Gender identity/presentation                Age* 

  Other (please define) 

*age discrimination legislation does not apply to the treatment of pupils or provision of education. 

Section B:  Tell us about the incident in your own words; giving as much detail as possible (please use a separate sheet if necessary): 

When did the incident take place? 

Time             Day                              Date   

Where did it happen? 

Area of school / Street name or location if outside school / via electronic media (please give details below) 

What happened? 

What injuries were suffered (Physical? Emotional?) Please give details below:- 

Was any property lost or damaged?                Yes (If ‘yes’ please give details below)      No  

Frequency or duration of behaviour 

Once or twice                             Persisting over one school term 

Several times a week Persisting for more than a year 

Section C:  About the Victim 

Is the victim   Pupil              Staff member            Other adult            Other child  

(Name of victim is not needed in this context)                          Sex    M/F   Is this same as birth? Y/N 

If child - Year Group /Age 

If adult - Age Group: 16-24        25-34          35-44     45-55     Over 55  

Please indicate in the appropriate box how you would describe the victim:  

Religion/belief              Sexual orientation  

Buddhist Rastafarian Don’t know Heterosexual 

Christian Sikh Bisexual 

Hindu Other Gay/Lesbian                

Jewish No religion Prefer not to say 

Muslim Prefer not to say Don’t know 

Ethnicity 

White British White & Black Caribbean Any other black background 

White & Black African Indian Chinese    

White Irish Pakistani Any other ethnic background 

White & Asian Bangladeshi Prefer not to say 

Other white background Black Caribbean Don’t know 

Any other mixed background Black African 

Eastern European 

Is the victim from a Gypsy or Traveller background? 

  Yes No           Don’t know 

Disability – please describe                           Don’t know 

Section D:  About the offender(s) 

Details, with Year or age group/s if pupil/s; ethnicity; gender/gender identity; other relevant characteristics 

(Name/s of offender/s not needed in this context) 

If adult - Age Group: 

               16-24 25-34 35-44 45-55 Over 55  

              Role / reason for presence at school 

If offender/s is/are unknown, can you describe them? (Consider height, ethnicity, build and clothing). 

Section E:  What now?  

Details of actions agreed with everyone involved – including parents and carers where appropriate: 

Outcomes of follow up  

Section F:  Details of person reporting (victim, witness or third party)  

Form Completed by: 

Role:                                                                                                            Date 

Date this incident was reported to the authority:  

Police involvement: 

Does the person reporting / victim/parents or carers / school want the Police to investigate?  

Yes                                             No 

The police will want to collect evidence i.e. photograph any injuries the victim has; look for fingerprints left by the offender or swab any areas where the suspect has touched. If you have any evidence, which may be of use to the police then please ring them and tell them immediately. Shropshire Police 24 hour telephone number is: 101. 

Authorisation: 

Certain agencies can share de-personalised information without your consent. 

Do you agree to the information being passed to all the agencies involved in the local agency partnership? (The local agency partnership includes West Mercia Police, Shropshire Diversity Officer, Citizens Advice Shropshire and Victim Support Shropshire). 

This is requested to help in assessing and countering the levels of hate crime in Shropshire. 

Incident details only Yes No    

Personal details Yes No 

Signature              Date  

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...………… 

Follow-up – for any further interventions related to this incident (for School use – no additional formal reporting required). 

If the behaviour does not stop after initial interventions, this space can be used to record additional steps being taken and outcomes for both victim and perpetrator: 

APPENDIX 2  

The Legal Framework:  

The Education and Inspections Act 2006  

There are a number of statutory obligations on schools with regard to behaviour which establish clear responsibilities to respond to bullying. In particular section 89 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006:  

Provides that every school must have measures to encourage good behaviour and prevent all forms of bullying amongst pupils. These measures should be part of the school’s behaviour policy which must be communicated to all pupils, school staff and parents;  

Gives head teachers the ability to ensure that pupils behave when they are not on school premises or under the lawful control of school staff. 

The Equality Act 2010 replaces previous anti-discrimination laws with a single Act. A key provision is a new Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED), which came into force on 5 April 2011 and with which schools are now required to comply. It replaces the three previous public sector equality duties for race, disability and gender, and also covers nine ‘protected characteristics’ disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, age, marriage or civil partnership . The final two are not relevant to a school’s dealings with its pupils but would be part of their duties as an employer. 

The Duty has three aims. 

It requires public bodies to have due regard to the need to:  

Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Act;  

Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it;  

Foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it.  

Schools are now required to comply with the new Equality Duty and additional specific duties require them:  

To publish information to demonstrate how they are complying with the PSED and  

to publish at least one equality objective  

The Act also makes it unlawful for the responsible body of a school to discriminate against, harass or victimise a pupil or potential pupil in relation to admissions, the way it provides education for pupils, provision of pupil access to any benefit, facility or service, or by excluding a pupil or subjecting them to any other detriment. In England and Wales the Act applies to all maintained and independent schools, including Academies and Free Schools, and maintained and non-maintained special schools  

Safeguarding Children and Young People  

Under the Children Act 1989 a bullying incident should be addressed as a child protection concern when there is ‘reasonable cause to suspect that a child is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm’. Where this is the case, the school staff should report their concerns to their local authority children’s social care team. Even where safeguarding is not considered to be an issue, schools may need to draw on a range of external services to support the pupil who is experiencing bullying, or to tackle any underlying issue which has contributed to a child doing the bullying.  

Criminal Law  

Although bullying in itself is not a specific criminal offence in the UK, it is important to bear in mind that some types of harassing or threatening behaviour – or communications – could be a criminal offence, for example under the Protection from  

Harassment Act 1997, the Malicious Communications Act 1988, the Communications  

Act 2003, and the Public Order Act 1986.  

Under the Equality Act 2010, an offence could be committed when bullying relates to a protected characteristic.  

If staff members feel that an offence may have been committed they should seek assistance from the police. For example, under the Malicious Communication Act 1988, it is an offence for a person to send an electronic communication to another person with the intent to cause distress or anxiety or to send an electronic communication which conveys a message which is indecent or grossly offensive, a threat, or information which is false and known or believed to be false by the “sender.”.