St PeterŐs RC High School and Sixth Form Centre
BULLYING AND HARASSMENT POLICY
Date: Oct 2009
Policy Review due: Oct 2012
Owner: Disciplinary Committee
DEFINITION
á Bullying is any deliberate act that results from a conscious desire to hurt, threaten or frighten someone. It is an abuse of power and results in pain and distress to its victim, who often feels powerless. Usually bullying develops as a campaign over time; however, one incident can be sufficient to warrant being called bullying.
á Bullying can be physical, verbal, social or psychological and may take many forms including name calling, deliberate and obvious exclusion, violence, calumny, gestures. The effects of bullying are not limited to schools nor to young people only.
BACKGROUND
Do not use harmful words
in talking. Use only helpful words, the kind that build up and provide what
is needed, so that what you say will do good to those who hear you... Get
rid of all bitterness, passion and anger. No more shouting or insults. No
more hateful feelings of any sort. Instead, be kind and tender-hearted to
one another, and forgive one another, as God has forgiven you in Christ. Ephesians,
4:29-32
á We at St PeterŐs accept responsibility to raise awareness of the effects of harassment and bullying both on the individual and on the school community as a whole and to put measures in place which allow the quick and confidential reporting of bullying and harassment and which demand immediate and appropriate reaction.
á The school is committed to develop, implement and monitor procedures and guidelines aimed at securing equality of treatment for all. Our aim is to eliminate bullying in all its forms from our school.
á The purpose of the policy is to record formally the role we all have at St PeterŐs in promoting respect for all individuals, in providing all individuals with the right to seek redress through either a formal or an informal process. The policy recognises that harassment or bullying is a disciplinary matter. The policy recognises that support is needed both for victims of bullying and for those unjustly or unfairly accused of harassment or bullying.
RESPONSIBILITIES
The headteacher will:
á ensure that school staff, its governors and its students and their parents work together in partnership to guarantee that there is a consistency and effectiveness in the approach towards eradicating bullying, treating all reports of bullying seriously;
á use the school newsletters to state, clarify and reiterate the schoolŐs anti-bullying procedures;
á provide INSET for all staff about the schoolŐs procedure in handling complaints about bullying.
The governors will:
á ensure that counselling and chaplaincy facilities are available both for pupils who have been bullied and for pupils who have been bullying.
Heads of key stage will:
á respond urgently and sensitively to reports concerning bullying, whether these reports come directly from a pupil or from a tutor or other member of staff;
á use school assemblies and form period work to address the issue of bullying and to inform all pupils of the procedure to be followed when reporting bullying or incidents of harassment;
á take time occasionally to highlight to issue of bullying in a way which reminds all pupils that there is help available and that bullying will not be tolerated;
á manage a system of record-keeping which clarifies precisely whether incidents are isolated, repetitive or retaliatory.
All school staff will:
á have a clear understanding of the schoolŐs procedure when complaints about bullying are made, ensuring that they respond urgently and sensitively to reports concerning bullying, passing any which seem serious in their nature on to the tutor or the head of key stage;
á be approachable and discrete, and prepared to listen to pupils who wish to report bullying.
The PSHE co-ordinator and the chaplaincy team will:
á support the heads of key stage in devising and presenting materials to help form tutors discuss bullying with their forms.