Bullying Policy Aims:

For the whole school community to work together to create and maintain a secure, calm and healthy learning environment where bullying does not take place

To give all members of the school community the confidence to report concerns about bullying knowing that they will be listened to

For the school to respond to all concerns about bullying and ensure bullying incidents are dealt with effectively

To record and analyse incidents of bullying

To monitor the effectiveness of the anti-bullying policy by consulting with members of the whole school community

To review the anti-bullying policy in consultation with members of the whole school community in order to inform future practice

Definition of Bullying

"Bullying is deliberate, hurtful behaviour that is often repeated over a period of time and in which it is difficult for those being bullied to defend themselves" (Sullivan, Cleary & Sullivan, 2005)

Beverley High School will work to ensure that there is a common understanding of what constitutes bullying and to inform the whole school community about the anti-bullying stance the school takes. The school will endeavour to ensure that pupils, as well as staff and other members of the school are fully engaged in developing and reviewing anti-bullying work and that all pupils are clear about the roles they can take in preventing bullying, including the role of the bystander.

The school considers the features that make an act bullying are as follows:

•  An act that causes hurt (physical and/or emotional)
•  An act that is intentional – the person bullying wants to hurt
•  An act that is usually repeated, or there is a threat that it will be repeated
•  Where there is an imbalance of power that means that the person suffering the bullying is unable to/will find it difficult to     stop it happening

Specific types of bullying include:

•  Bullying related to race, religion or culture
•  Bullying related to special educational needs (SEN) or disabilities
•  Bullying related to appearance or health conditions
•    Sexist or sexual bullying
•     Homophobic bullying including bullying related to transgender

Specific bullying relationships include:

•  Pupil on pupil
•  Pupil/parent on staff
•  Staff/adult on pupil

Bullying can be carried out in the following ways:

a) Direct:

•  Physical
•  Verbal
•  Non-Verbal

b) Indirect:

•  Cyber Bullying/E-bullying/Text and mobile communication

Bullying can be: name-calling; taunting; mocking; making offensive comments; kicking; hitting; pushing; taking belongings; inappropriate text messaging and emailing; sending offensive or degrading images by phone or via the internet and social networking sites; producing offensive graffiti; gossiping; excluding people from groups; and spreading hurtful and untruthful rumours (this list is not exhaustive).

Cyber Bullying

Beverley High School prides itself on providing a safe learning environment for all Pupils. The benefits of the Internet and other technologies are tremendous; However the inappropriate use of such technology is becoming a concern.

Over the last two years we have seen an increase in ‘cyber bullying’ which is the misuse of information communications technology (ICT) particularly mobile phones and the Internet, to cause pain to others.

This is usually as a result of:

• Messages posted to popular social networking web sites such as Facebook, Bebo, My Space, Messages posted on MSN.
• Emails
• Text messaging to mobile phones.

Many social networking sites contain instant messaging components that allow users to chat with others and to post statements that ordinarily would not be said in face-to-face conversation. Increasingly we are seeing the results of these ‘conversations’ in school in the form of arguments and bullying situations, which are brought to the attention of staff. At Beverley High School pupils are not allowed access to social networking web sites on school computers or any other websites deemed to contain unsuitable material.

We advise parents to,

• Monitor their child’s use of the Internet. Social networking sites are in the public domain, and anything posted there can be viewed by anyone with Internet access. Although most of what is written is not immoral, offensive or illegal some of it is.

• Talk with your daughter about the safe use of the Internet and make her aware of the potential dangers. If your daughter is using these sites you may want to review her profile including the use of privacy settings to ensure that no personal and identifiable information has been posted. The media has highlighted instances of adults posing as young people and gaining access to personal information, which enables possible predators to make contact with the young person. In some cases such contacts have led to tragedy.