EDWARD FRANCIS
PRIMARY SCHOOL
ANTI-BULLYING POLICY
 IT WAS DEVELOPED during the spring term 2013 through
a process of consultation with school staff and the
Governing Body
 IT WAS APPROVED by the Governing Body in spring 2013
THIS POLICY WILL BE REVIEWED every three years.
Edward Francis Primary School Anti-bullying policy
We believe that all children in our care should be protected from those who wish
to deliberately hurt them either physically or emotionally.
Aims and objectives
 To develop a school environment that is both safe and secure for all pupils.
 To have in place established systems that will deal with incidents of bullying.
 To develop confident children who will notify staff of any incident of bullying.
 To inform everyone connected with the school of the school’s anti-bullying
policy.
What is ‘bullying’?
The Office of Children and Young People’s Services’ Anti-Bullying Strategy defines
bullying as ‘a persistent, deliberate attempt to hurt or humiliate someone.’
There may sometimes be misunderstanding about the meaning of the term
‘bullying’: one-off incidents, whilst they may be very serious and must always be
dealt with, do not fall within the definition of ‘bullying’.
Types of bullying
There are various types of bullying, but most have three things in common:
1. It is deliberately hurtful behaviour.
2. It is repeated over time.
3. There is an imbalance of power, which makes it hard for those being bullied to
defend themselves.
Bullying may take various forms, including:
- Physical (e.g. kicking, hitting, pushing, intimidating behaviour or interference
with personal property)
- Verbal/Psychological (e.g. threats, taunts, shunning/ostracism, namecalling/verbal abuse or spreading of rumours)
- Racist Bullying (e.g. physical, verbal, written, on-line or text abuse or ridicule
based on differences of race, colour, ethnicity, nationality, culture or
language)
- Faith-based Bullying (e.g. negative stereotyping, name-calling or ridiculing
based on religion)
- Sexist Bullying (e.g. use of sexist language or negative stereotyping based on
gender)
- Sexual Bullying (e.g. unwanted/inappropriate physical contact or sexual
innuendo)
- Homophobic Bullying (e.g. name-calling, innuendo or negative stereotyping
based on sexual orientation or use of homophobic language)
- SEN / Disability Bullying (e.g. name-calling, innuendo, negative stereotyping or
excluding from activity based on disability or learning difficulties)
- Gifted/Talented Bullying (e.g. name-calling, innuendo, ostracism or negative
peer pressure based on high levels of ability or effort)
- Cyber Bullying (e.g. abuse on-line or via text message, interfering with
electronic files, setting up or promoting inappropriate websites and
inappropriate sharing of images from webcams/mobile phones)
An ‘anti-bullying’ school environment
- The school works hard to establish a climate of mutual support and praise for
success, so making bullying less likely. When children feel they are important
and belong to a friendly and welcoming school, bullying is far less likely to be
part of their behaviour. We also regularly emphasise to children and parents
that we are a ‘telling school’, encouraging children to disclose bullying issues
to us so that we can deal with them effectively.
- Parents are informed that this is an anti-bullying school through
communications including newsletters, the school prospectus and the
home-school contact agreement. A copy of this policy is downloadable
on the school’s website. Parents are asked to inform the school of any
incident of bullying involving their child.
- Pupils are periodically informed, through PHSE lessons and assemblies, of
acceptable forms of behaviour and the actions they should take if they
believe they are being bullied. Pupils are encouraged to report any
incidences of bullying.
Procedures when bullying has been reported:
- All reported incidents are investigated and dealt with.
- We are aware that the bullied child may be in fear of the aggressor and
may not easily divulge their problems so members of the school
community are encouraged to notice changes in mood or performance
which may indicate bullying. Members of staff associated with the
children involved (bully and victim) are informed and closely monitor the
children concerned for an extended period
- Bullying that is reported to members of staff is recorded on incident and
parent interview forms. These are retained on the appropriate children’s
files.
- If appropriate, parents are informed of all events and what actions have
been taken. Appropriate sanctions are applied in accordance with the
school’s behaviour policy. Activities (focusing on areas such as
assertiveness, development of social skills) may be provided to a specific
children involved in a bullying episode.
- All perpetrators of bullying are given time to reflect on why they have
bullied and why their actions were wrong.
Monitoring & Evaluation - The governing body reviews the effectiveness of this
policy regularly. The governors require the headteacher to keep accurate records of
all incidents of bullying and to report to the governors on request about the
effectiveness of school anti-bullying strategies.