Kings Monkton School
Anti-Bullying Policy
Name of policy
Rationale
The Governing Body believes that in order to enable effective teaching and learning to
take place, good behaviour in all aspects of school life is necessary. It seeks to create a
caring and learning environment in the school whereby all individuals feel safe and are
not threatened by other members of the school’s community.
IT IS THE DUTY OF EVERYONE IN THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY TO PLAY A ROLE IN
ENSURING THAT THE SCHOOL IS A SAFE AND SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITY. IT IS
THE
RESPONSIBILITY
OF
EVERY
INDIVIDUAL
TO
PREVENT
BULLYING
HAPPENING IN THE SCHOOL AND TO PLAY A PROACTIVE ROLE IN ENSURING
THAT THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN.
Aim / Rationale
The aim of the Anti-Bullying Policy is to ensure that pupils learn in a supportive, caring
and safe environment without fear of being bullied. Only when bullying is fully
addressed will pupils be able to fully benefit from the opportunities available at KMS.
Purpose
Everyone at the school agrees that bullying is unacceptable behaviour and should not
happen. Everyone is entitled to the respect of others. The school wants to promote
respect for others and a caring atmosphere.
Everyone should have the chance to succeed. All pupils should feel safe and not
threatened so they can achieve high standards of work. High standards of behaviour are
expected to make the school a pleasant and happy environment in which to aim for the
highest levels of attainment.
Pupils who bully others will be dealt with in a serious way, and in line with school policy.
Usually, pupils who bully others will be given a chance to improve their behaviour, after
the seriousness of their behaviour is explained to them and their parents.
What is bullying?
Bullying is defined as any behaviour, deliberate or perceived, usually repeated over a
period of time, where it is difficult for those bullied to defend themselves. Bullying comes
in many forms. It is usually spoken, psychological or physical and directed towards
another member of the school community which prevents him or her from living at ease
with other members of the school. Bullying is measured by its impact on the victim.
Bullying is an attitude rather than an act but can consist of:
Physical:
 Pushing
 Hitting
 Theft
Verbal:
 Blackmailing
 Taunts
 Racist abuse and other forms of abuse
Indirect:
 Totally ignoring someone
 Spreading rumours
 Exclusion
 Intimidating others with a gang
Other:
 Harassment using a mobile phone to include text messages or
photography/videoing of abuse or intimidation
 Cyber-bullying:
o Pupils will be held personally responsible for all material including offensive
material they have placed on a website and for all material that appears on
a website of which they are the account holder.
o
A pupil must not expect to keep his/her place in the school if he/she is
responsible for material on their own or another website that would be a
serious breach of school rules in any other context.
o
Behaviour of a similar kind outside school will be liable to school discipline
if the welfare of any another member of the school community or the
culture or the reputation of the school is placed at risk
o
Website abuse can be corrosive. The harm that it causes an individual and
the community alike should not be underestimated. It can strike at the
basis of the trust and confidence that must be maintained.
o
The school is entitled to prohibit the use of websites, message boards, MSN
manager or other posting sites during school time and on all school
equipment.
Sometimes these things happen over a long period of time and can be very worrying and
stressful. Bullying makes people change their behaviour such as:
 Becoming shy
 Nervous
 Feigning illness
 Unusual absences / truanting
 Clinging to adults
 Changes in work patterns
 Lack of concentration
Procedure

Reaction:
o Pupils
Sometimes ignoring a bully can work and the bullying will stop. However, if the bullying
continues, ignoring or putting up with it will only make sure that the bullying continues.
If the bullying does take place it is really important that pupils should tell their tutor or a
teacher they can trust who will try to sort everything out.
Any pupil who bullies another pupil, either on their own or with others will be dealt with
very seriously and may be excluded from class or school as a consequence of their
actions.
The incident will be treated sensitively. It is important that everyone realises that telling
someone is the only way bullying can be stopped. A pupil who is found out to have been
bullying someone else will not be allowed to get back at them. Teachers will be
informed of incidents of bullying and will be asked to watch out carefully for any repeat
of the bullying.
o Staff
Staff are expected to adopt the “No Blame Approach” in the first instance and then the
“Support Group Approach” (see Appendix)
o Parents
Parents should contact the school reception as soon as possible if they know or suspect
someone is being bullied or is bullying someone at school. The first contact should be
with the tutor or head of section.
If parents are invited into the school to discuss their child’s involvement in, or problems
with bullying, it is crucial that they attend these meetings.
The school will work together with parents against bullying and any help parents can
offer through information and reinforcing this policy is helpful.

Prevention:
o Staff
We need to bear in mind we must act as models of good behaviour. We should not
misuse our positions of authority to dominate pupils. We should avoid the following,
even in conversation with colleagues;



Sarcastic comments
Derogatory nicknames
Dominating or humiliating behaviour
Staff need to be observant for signs of bullying, patrol all areas of the school, and be
generally vigilant.
o Pupils
Pupils have a responsibility to behave in a way that promotes the Anti-Bullying Policy
such as:
 Adhering to School Rules
 Reporting bullying incidents to staff
o Curriculum
We integrate this policy into the curriculum and into the daily life of the School by:
 Delivering PSHE lessons on bullying
 Listening to the Student Voice on bullying
Resources
Incident sheet
Childline
0800 1111
www.childline.org.uk
AntiBullying
0207 3781446
Samaritans
0845 7909090
Useful advice can also be obtained at www.kidscape.org.uk
Appendices
The Support Group Approach Policy
No Blame Approach Policy
The No Blame, or Peer Support Approach to Bullying
When bullying has been observed or reported the following steps can be taken:
- Step one: interview with the victim. When the teacher finds out that bullying has
happened she starts by talking to the victim about his feelings. She does not question
him about the incidents but she does need to know who was involved.
- Step two: convene a meeting with the people involved. The teacher arranges to meet
with the group of pupils who have been involved. This will include some bystanders or
colluders who joined in but did not initiate any bullying. We find that a group of six or
eight young people works well.
- Step three: explain the problem. She tells them about the way the victim is feeling
and might use a poem, a piece of writing or a drawing to emphasize his distress. At no
one time does she discuss the details of the incidents or allocate blame to the group.
- Step four: share responsibility. The teacher does not attribute the blame but states
that she knows that the group is responsible and can do something about it. 'Each
member of the group is encouraged to suggest a way in which
the victim could be helped to feel happier'
- Step five: ask the group for their ideas. Each member of the group is encouraged to
suggest a way in which the victim could be helped to feel happier. The teacher gives
some positive responses but she does not go on to extract apromise of improved
behaviour.
- Step six: leave it up to them. The teacher ends the meeting by passing over the
responsibility to the group to solve the problem. She arranges to meet them again to
see how things are going.
- Step seven: meet them again. About a week later the teacher discusses with each
student, including the victim, how things have been going. This allows the teacher to
monitor the bullying and keeps the young people involved in the process.
Responding to the 'yes ... but!'
- You are not seen to be taking strong action - what will parents, pupils, colleagues
think? A school that has clear, written policy on its anti-bullying procedures is not likely
to incur disapproval from the community. In our experience most dissatisfaction arises
when the teachers do not take parental complaints seriously or when they respond by
blaming the victim: - 'It's six of one and half a dozen ... ','She doesn't do much to help
herself.'
We have attended several parents meetings and explained the 'no blame approach' and
the reaction has been very positive. Parents of victims may have feelings of revenge and
anger but when we reassure them that something will be done we find they agree that
the most important thing is to stop the bullying.
- What do you do if there is a serious incident of violence?
When another seriously assaults a pupil then the usual sanctions must be applied, even
calling the police if appropriate. This does not mean that the 'no blame approach' cannot
be tried as well since the particular incident of violence would not be discussed. The
issue addressed is the misery of the victim and how that might be alleviated.
- Surely you need to know exactly what went on? It is only necessary to know that
bullying is happening and to have the names of the young people involved. Any attempts
to take accurate accounts about the events are likely to stir up further disputes, to
increase hostility towards the victims and to waste a lot of time because the
'truth' may be hard to find and may vary from one person's perspective to another.
Bullying is a complex process and you are not likely to discover all its ramifications and
certainly not all its causes by questioning the participants.
- What if only one bully is involved? We believe that it is very rare that bullying takes
place in real isolation - there is nearly always some knowledge and even consent from a
group, even if they disapprove and refuse to join in. Secret bullying of one person by
another is rare and hard to discover but if it is revealed then the 'no blame approach'
might still be tried. A peer group could be given the opportunity to help put things right,
even if they have not been involved in the unhappiness.
- What if the bully is seriously disturbed? Pupils with seriously maladaptive behaviours
should be helped in the usual way. The 'no blame approach' is planned to stop bullying,
not to treat pathology. Any individual who is involved in this process may be offered
other additional interventions or referred for specialist advice as necessary.
- What about victims that provoke bullying? Why can't we help the victim directly? Some
victims may display behaviours that appear to encourage bullying from their peers. Any
young person who has poor social and friendship skills or who is very unassertive should
be offered help and support in order to learn appropriate social interaction. This should
not be implied as a responsibility to stop the bullying for themselves.
When the group convenes to discuss the plight of the victim someone may suggest that
he or she is encouraged to behave in a different way ... 'we could ask her to stop...' That
is fine as long as the group take the responsibility to help her and the changes are within
her ability.
Conclusion
Bullying is a serious problem that spoils the lives and learning of a significant number of
young people in schools. It is time to stop collecting the data on frequency. Bullying
does occur in all schools. Preventative approaches will reduce it but it will still happen
and teachers need to know how to deal with it when it does.
The No Blame Approach seems almost too simple and it is hard for teachers to let go of
the traditional ways of dealing with the behaviour - interrogation and punishment.
However, the students and parents tell us that all they care about is that the behaviour
stops - and this intervention achieves just that