www.wiltshire.gov.uk
Information for Head Teachers and Governors
All schools should be concerned about bullying:
Head teachers must, by law, have a policy to prevent all forms of bullying among pupils. Challenging bullying effectively will improve the safety and happiness of pupils, show that the school cares and make clear to bullies that the behaviour is unacceptable.
Head teachers will need to satisfy themselves that their policies comply with the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Race Relations Amendment Act 2000. The latter requires schools to draw up a race equality policy and ensure that policies do not discriminate against racial groups.
There are four stages to establishing a whole-school policy:
- Awareness raising and consultation – with staff, students and parents – to feed into the policy
- Implementation of the policy
- Monitoring
- Evaluation
Although schools are not directly responsible for bullying that occurs off their premises, there are a number of measures that can be taken to ensure that the school meets its duty of care:
- Talk to the local police about problems on local streets; if necessary, seek a police presence at trouble spots
- Talk to the transport company about bullying on buses or trains
- Talk to the head of another school whose pupils are bullying off the premises
- Map safe routes to school, and tell pupils about them
- Talk to pupils about how to avoid or handle bullying outside the school premises
The Children’s Legal Centre has written a guide to the law, which provides information for parents and carers on bullying and what schools are required to do to prevent and deal with it effectively. It also provides practical advice on what parents can do if their child is being bullied, and what to do if the school fails to support their child.
The Department for Children, Schools and Familiesls website has more information:
Schools should develop policies and good practice for preventing ‘cyberbullying’. The DCSF has written a “superhighway safety schools” information pack that covers different kinds of remote bullying and strategies for tackling it: see links on the right.
If you have any comments or suggestions about the safer schools pages, please send them to saferschools@wiltshire.gov.uk or fill in and return our feedback form.
