Through this Policy, Roselyn House School and The RHISE Service aims: 

• To enable the Headteacher, Deputy Head Teacher (s), and Co-ordinators of Roselyn House School and The RHISE Service to exercise their responsibility to ensure each child’s access to and progression through the broad and balanced range of National Curriculum subjects. 

• To allow the school to promote the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of students and prepare students for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of adult life. The policy reinforces those other cross-curricular and thematic activities in school which develop appropriate values for students with regard to society, relationships, the self and the environment. 

• To work towards a “restraint fee environment” in which all children and staff feel safe. Constant monitoring, review and reflection will form the basis to aid this. 

• To support all teaching, support staff and volunteers who come into contact with students when working within the school. 

• To establish a positive environment in which every child is encouraged to respond with socially acceptable behaviour to situations which they encounter and that they are comfortable with those situations. 

• To allow both students and staff to develop an awareness of self and progress towards an emotionally literate school ethos.   

• To provide a feeling of community and belonging for both staff and students by fostering appropriate “understanding” relationships.   

• To ensure that all students have the freedom to access the curriculum without fear of intimidation and bullying.   

• To develop an emotionally literate ethos where everyone involved has a greater sense of managing their self. 

1. Definition of bullying  

Bullying is hurtful or unkind behaviour which is deliberate and repeated. Bullying can be carried out by an individual or a group of people towards another individual or group, where the bully or bullies hold more power than those being bullied. 

The nature of bullying can be:  

• Physical –such as hitting or physically intimidating someone, or using inappropriate or unwanted physical contact towards someone  

• Attacking property –such as damaging, stealing or hiding someone’s possessions 

• Verbal –such as name calling, spreading rumours about someone, using derogatory or offensive language or threatening someone  

• Psychological –such as deliberately excluding or ignoring people  

• Cyber –such as using text, email or other social media to write or say hurtful things about someone 

• religion 

• religious practices, like not eating meat or drinking alcohol 

• clothes or symbols, like if you wear a headscarf, cross or kara 

• where you were born 

• the way you speak or your accent 

• class or caste. 

Being treated differently because of your religion, lack of religion or your beliefs is a type of discrimination. It's also wrong for someone to treat you unfairly because of your friend or family members' religion. It's still discrimination if someone doesn't mean to treat you differently or if they make a wrong assumption about you. Discrimination is against the law and you can get help to get it stopped. 

Culture, Class and Social Bullying 

Social Bullying is the second most common form of bullying, after name calling. This type of bullying is also known as covert and relational bullying as it is designed to humiliate and damage someone socially. This sort of bullying is often harder to recognise and is often carried out behind the back of the person who is being bullied. It includes: 

• Lying, fake rumours and spreading gossip 

• Encouraging others to turn against someone 

• Leaving someone out constantly and encouraging others to do the same 

• Socially excluding someone online, cyberbullying, negative comments on posts and images 

• Damaging someone's social reputation or social acceptance 

• Using humiliating nicknames and continuing when asked to stop 

• Negative attitudes towards disability 

• A lack of understanding of different disabilities and conditions 

• Being seen as “different” 

• Not recognising that they are being bullied 

• They may be doing different work or have additional support at school 

• They may be more isolated due to their disability 

• They may have difficulties in telling people about bullying 

• They may find it harder to make friends. 

In addition to usual forms of bullying, disabled children may also experience different forms of bullying, like: 

• manipulative bullying: where a person is controlling someone 

• conditional friendship: where a child thinks someone is being their friend but phases of friendliness are alternated with phases of bullying 

• exploitative bullying: where features of a child’s condition are used to bully them 

Appearance or health conditions  

According to Changing Faces, the national charity working to support the visibly different and to counter prejudice, Jane Frances, policy adviser for the charity, talks of the huge effect of appearance bullying and the damage it does to children’s education. About 86,000 young people in the UK have significant facial disfigurement, she says. This is most often caused by congenital disorders, illness, accidents or skin conditions. “The way these young people look makes them particularly vulnerable to staring, comments, questions, ostracism and bullying.” It is not only those with a disfigurement who are affected by concerns about their appearance and who fear bullying. In a 2014 Girlguiding survey, 45% of 11- to 21-year-old females said they sometimes felt ashamed of the way they look, and 31% said they knew girls their age who had experienced bullying about a disability. The problems around body image in schools and colleges have also been recognised by the Centre for Appearance Research at the University of the West of England. 

Related to home or other personal situation  

There may be a number of different reasons why home situations may evoke bullying, for example, the young person: 

• may have been seen as isolated or different 

• may be teased or ostracised because of their family's circumstances or problems 

• may have untidy or unclean clothing or general appearance 

• may find it harder to make or sustain friendships and so become less confident in social situations 

• may be withdrawn, depressed or over sensitive 

Related to another vulnerable group of people  

No form of bullying will be tolerated and all incidents will be taken seriously.  

We all recognise and know that bullying, if left unaddressed can have a devastating and long-lasting effect on individuals. It can be a barrier to their learning and have serious consequences for their short and long-term mental health.  

If schools prevent and tackle bullying, they can help to create a safe, disciplined environment where students are able to learn and fulfil their potential. (NAHT) 

• Advance equal opportunities between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it  

• Foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it.  

Additionally, part six of the Equality Act makes it unlawful for the responsible body of a school to discriminate against, harass or victimise a pupil (or potential pupil) in relation to admissions, the way it provides education, access to any benefit, faculty or service; or by excluding a pupil or subjecting them to any other detriment.  

 2. Reporting bullying  

STUDENTS WHO ARE BEING BULLIED: If a student is being bullied they are encouraged to not retaliate but to tell someone they trust about it such as a friend, family member or trusted adult. They are also encouraged to report any bullying incidents in school:  

• Report to a Teacher  

• Report to a Learning Support Assistant 

• Report to your Learning Mentor (This will then be recorded on an information sheet) 

• Report bullying by: E-mailing: office@roselynhouseschool.co.uk, or student@roselynhouseschool.co.uk  Phoning 01772 435 948. Using the anonymous school bullying reporting box, On the school website via www.roselynhouseschool.co.uk, School Facebook, using the private messaging. 

• Report to other school staff [therapist, school nurse, other agencies]  

• Call ChildLine to speak with someone in confidence on 0800 1111  

Reporting –roles and responsibilities  

STAFF: All school staff, both teaching and non-teaching, have a duty to report bullying, to be vigilant to the signs of bullying and to play an active role in the school’s efforts to prevent bullying. If staff are aware of bullying, they should reassure the students involved and inform a relevant member of the anti- bullying pastoral team. These are: Mr Birkenhead, Mrs Higgins and Mrs Smith. 

SENIOR STAFF: The Senior Leadership Team and the Headteacher have overall responsibility for ensuring that the anti-bullying policy is followed by all members of staff and that the school upholds its duty to promote the safety and well-being of all young people.  

PARENTS AND CARERS: Parents and carers should look out for potential signs of bullying such as distress, lack of concentration, feigning illness or other unusual behaviour. Parents and carers should tell their child not to retaliate and support and encourage them to report the bullying. Parents and carers can report an incident of bullying to the school either in person, or by phoning or emailing the school office or a member of staff - Mrs Mercer. 

STUDENTS: Students should not take part in any kind of bullying and should watch out for potential signs of bullying among their peers. They should never be bystanders to incidents of bullying. If students witness bullying they should support the victim, encourage them to report the bullying and, if possible, accompany them to tell a trusted adult. 

3. Responding to bullying when bullying has been reported, the following actions will be taken:  

• Staff will record the bullying on CPOMS.  

• Designated school staff will monitor incidents recorded on CPOMS and analyse and evaluate the results. 

• Designated school staff will produce termly reports summarising the information. 

• Support will be offered to those who are the target of bullying from Mr Birkenhead, from a member of Middle or Senior Management  or through the use of  restorative justice or circle time. 

• Staff will pro-actively respond to the bully, who may require support from Mr Birkenhead or through the use of  restorative justice programmes. 

• Staff will assess whether parents and carers need to be involved  

• Staff will assess whether any other authorities (such as police or the local authority) need to be involved, particularly where actions take place outside of school 

4. Bullying outside of school 

• Harassment - This is the act of sending offensive, rude, and insulting messages and being abusive. Nasty or humiliating comments on posts, photos and in chat rooms. Being explicitly offensive on gaming sites. 

• Denigration – This is when someone may send information about another person that is fake, damaging and untrue. Sharing photos of someone for the purpose to ridicule, spreading fake rumours and gossip. This can be on any site online or on apps. We even hear about people altering photos of others and posting in online for the purpose of bullying. 

• Flaming – This is when someone is purposely using really extreme and offensive language and getting into online arguments and fights. They do this to cause reactions and enjoy the fact it causes someone to get distressed. 

• Impersonation – This is when someone will hack into someone’s email or social networking account and use the person's online identity to send or post vicious or embarrassing material to/about others. The making up of fake profiles on social network sites, apps and online are common place and it can be really difficult to get them closed down. 

• Outing and Trickery – This is when someone may share personal information about another or trick someone into revealing secrets and forward it to others. They may also do this with private images and videos too.  

• Cyber Stalking – This is the act of repeatedly sending messages that include threats of harm, harassment, intimidating messages, or engaging in other online activities that make a person afraid for his or her safety. The actions may be illegal too depending on what they are doing.  

• Exclusion – This is when others intentionally leave someone out of a group such as group messages, online apps, gaming sites and other online engagement. This is also a form of social bullying and a very common.  

Bullying by spreading rumours and gossip 

The worst thing about social networking sites and messaging apps is that anything nasty posted about you can be seen by lots of people and these posts can go viral very fast and be shared by so many people within minutes in some cases. 

From what we have heard from people who have been bullied online, the most vicious gossip and rumours are often spread by people who were once your best friends so it's best to keep secrets and personal information to yourself. Only tell people things if it wouldn't embarrass you if other people found out about them. Posting false and malicious things about people on the internet can be classed as harassment. 

7. School initiatives to prevent and tackle bullying   

We use a range of measures to prevent and tackle bullying including:  

• A student-friendly anti-bullying policy which is handed out to students and ensures all students understand and uphold the anti-bullying policy. This is discussed in Form Time and through Behaviour targeting sessions by Mr Birkenhead 

• The PSHE programme of study includes opportunities for students to understand about different types of bullying and what they can do to respond and prevent bullying  

• Mentor Time and Form Time provides regular opportunities to discuss issues that may arise in class and for Behaviour Support to target specific interventions  

• Assemblies and class group sessions help raise students’ awareness of bullying and derogatory language  

• Difference and diversity are celebrated across the school through diverse displays, books and images. The whole school participates in events and focus weeks which can include Anti-bullying week, Black History Month and LGBT+ History Month 

• The school values of equality and respect are embedded across the curriculum to ensure that it is as inclusive as possible 

• Stereotypes are challenged by staff and students across the school  

• Peer mentoring and student-led programmes 

• Offer support to all  

• Restorative justice programmes 

• Provide support to targets of bullying and those who show bullying behaviour  

• Students are continually involved in developing school-wide anti-bullying initiatives through consultation with groups and through the anti-bullying survey  

• Working with parents and carers, and in partnership with community organisations, to tackle bullying where appropriate  

In order for this Policy to be effective, we need: 

• To ensure a whole school approach to the issue: looking at developing a common understanding of what amounts to bullying. 

• To emphasise that much of our work as a school is to encourage the young people at Roselyn House School and The RHISE Service to co-operate and care for each other. 

• To break a cycle of rivalry or conflict which may become apparent. 

• To develop training for staff in understanding the nature of conflict and the encouragement of skills to diffuse confrontations. 

• To use Team Teach de-escalation techniques. 

• To build constructively from negative experiences.     

• To reduce incidents of bullying among our students. 

• To educate young people about feelings and long term effects. 

• To provide consideration for all. 

• To provide a learning environment free from any threat or fear. 

• To reduce and eradicate where possible instances in which students are made to feel frightened, excluded or unhappy. 

• To establish a means of dealing with bullying and of providing support to students who have been bullied. 

• To ensure that all students and staff are aware of the policy and that they fulfil their obligations to it. 

• To provide access to support networks for staff and young people www.familylives.org.uk 

• To review this policy on an annual cycle. 

• Hitting or threatening to hit someone 

• Touching someone inappropriately or without their consent  

• Calling someone names or spreading rumours or gossip about someone 

• Stealing, hiding or damaging someone’s property 

• Deliberately ignoring someone or leaving them out  

• Sending hurtful or unkind texts, emails or online messages to or about someone Remember that bullying isn’t just physical and it can happen outside or inside school.  

If someone is deliberately and repeatedly being hurtful or unkind towards you or someone else, whatever that looks like or for whatever reason, it is bullying.  

What kinds of bullying can happen? 

Bullying can be based on any of the following things:  

• Race or ethnicity (racist bullying)  

• Religion or belief  

• Culture or family background 

• Gender (sexist bullying) 

• Sexual orientation (homophobic or biphobic bullying) 

• Gender identity (transphobic bullying) 

• Special educational needs or disability 

• Appearance or health condition  

• Home or other personal situation  

Not every type of bullying is on this list. If someone is deliberately and repeatedly being hurtful or unkind towards you, for whatever reason, that is bullying.  

What should I do if I’m being bullied or someone else is being bullied? 

It is really important to report bullying. It won’t make the situation worse and it will help to stop the bullying whether it is happening to you or to someone else. If you know that someone is being bullied, try to reassure and support them, tell them that what is happening is wrong and help them to tell a trusted adult. There are many different ways to report bullying:  

• Tell a teacher, Mr Birkenhead, Miss Willacy, Mrs Higgins, Mr Dickinson or any other teacher 

• Report it to other staff such as Therapist, School Nurse, School Counsellor  

• You can also report bullying by: Emailing office@roselynhouseschool.co.uk or student@roselynhouseschool.co.uk 

• Phoning 01772435948 

• Using the anonymous bullying reporting boxes, on the school website or school Facebook page on private message 

• You can call ChildLine at any time for free on 0800 1111 to speak to a counsellor. Remember your call will be confidential which means they will not tell anyone else about what you have said. 

School staff will make sure that the bullying is recorded and taken seriously and will follow up to support you or the person being bullied. They will also act to sort out the situation with the bully and any others involved. 

This school is a place where every person has the right to be themselves and to be included in a safe and happy environment. Everyone at our school is equal and should be treated with respect. Bullying of any nature or form is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. We take all incidences of bullying seriously and it is our duty as a whole school community to take measures to prevent and tackle any bullying, harassment or discrimination. The safety, welfare and well-being of all students and staff is a key priority. We actively promote values of respect and equality and work to ensure difference and diversity is celebrated across the whole school community. We want to enable our students to become responsible citizens and to prepare them for life in 21st Century Britain. These values reflect those that will be expected of our students by society when they leave school and enter the world of work or further study. We are committed to improving our school’s approach to tackling bullying by regularly monitoring, reviewing and assessing the impact of our preventative measures. 

Summary of anti-bullying policy:  

• Bullying is hurtful or unkind behaviour which is deliberate and repeated. Bullying can be done by one person or by a group of people towards another person or a group of people where the bully or bullies hold more power than those being bullied.  

• Bullying can be physical, verbal, psychological, cyber (online or via text) or involve the damaging or stealing of property  

• Bullying can be based on someone’s race or ethnicity (racist bullying), religion or belief, culture or family background, gender (sexist bullying), sexual orientation (homophobic or biphobic bullying), gender identity (transphobic bullying), special educational needs or disability, appearance or health condition, home circumstance  

• Derogatory or offensive language of any kind will not be tolerated 

• All bullying and any prejudice-based incidents will be recorded in school and followed up by a member of staff who will offer support to those involved  

• If you think your child is experiencing bullying you can contact Mr Birkenhead or Mrs Higgins  initially by email or telephone. You can speak to Mrs Mercer in the school Office and she will arrange for a member of SLT to call you back 

• Your child can also report bullying within the school to any member of staff or through the anonymous box service 

• They can e-mail, ring or use School’s Facebook Inbox  

• The full anti-bullying policy is available on the school website and in the school Prospectus 

• If you have any questions about this policy, please contact Miss Damerall, Headteacher or Mr Birkenhead, Deputy Headteacher. 

This will then be signed by Parents/ Carers. 

The following organisations provide support for schools and parents dealing with specific bullying issues including the social, mental or emotional affects caused by bullying.  

• The Anti-Bullying Alliance (ABA): Founded in 2002 by NSPCC and National Children's Bureau, the Anti-Bullying Alliance ABA) brings together over 100 organisations into one network to develop and share good practice across the whole range of bullying issues.  

The ABA has also put together a fact sheet outlining the range of support that is available to schools and young people from the anti-bullying sector which can be accessed here.  

• The Diana Award: Anti-Bullying Ambassadors programme to empower young people to take responsibility for changing the attitudes and behaviour of their peers towards bullying. It will achieve this by identifying, training and supporting school anti-bullying ambassadors.  

• Kidscape: Charity established to prevent bullying and promote child protection providing advice for young people, professionals and parents about different types of bullying and how to tackle it. They also offer specialist training and support for school staff, and assertiveness training for young people.  

• The BIG Award: The Bullying Intervention Group (BIG) offer a national scheme and award for schools to tackle bullying effectively.   

• Restorative Justice Council: Includes best practice guidance for practitioners 2011.   

Cyber-bullying and online safety  

• ChildNet International: Specialist resources for young people to raise awareness of online safety and how to protect themselves. Website specifically includes new cyberbullying guidance and a practical PSHE toolkit for schools.   

• Digizen: provides online safety information for educators, parents, carers and young people.   

• Internet Matters: provides help to keep children safe in the digital world.  

• Think U Know: resources provided by Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) for children and young people, parents, carers and teachers.   

• The UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) has produced a range of resources for schools, colleges and parents about how to keep children safe online, this includes advice for schools and colleges on responding to incidents of ‘sexting.’  

LGBTQ+ 

• Barnardos: through its LGBTQ Hub, offers guidance to young people, parents and teachers on how to support LGBT students and tackle LGBT prejudice-based bullying  

• EACH: (Educational Action Challenging Homophobia): provides a national freephone Actionline for targets of homophobic or transphobic bullying and training to schools on sexual orientation, gender identity matters and cyberhomophobia. Metro Charity: an equality and diversity charity, providing health, community and youth services across London, the South East, national and international projects. Metro works with anyone experiencing issues related to gender, sexuality, diversity or identity Proud Trust: helps young people empower themselves to make a positive change for themselves and their communities through youth groups, peer support, delivering of training and events, campaigns, undertaking research and creating resources.   

• Schools Out: Offers practical advice, resources (including lesson plans) and training to schools on LGBT equality in education.  

• Stonewall: An LGB equality organisation with considerable expertise in LGB bullying in schools, a dedicated youth site, resources for schools, and specialist training for teachers.   

SEND   

• Mencap: Represents people with learning disabilities, with specific advice and information for people who work with children and young people.   

• Changing Faces: Provide online resources and training to schools on bullying because of physical difference.   

• Cyberbullying and children and young people with SEN and disabilities: Advice provided by the Anti-Bullying Alliance on developing effective anti-bullying practice.  

• Anti-bullying Alliance SEND programme of resources: Advice provided by the Anti-bullying Alliance for school staff and parents on issues related to SEND and bullying.  

Information, Advice and Support Service Network: Every Local area has an information, advice and support service, providing information, advice and support to disabled children and young people, and those with SEN, and their parents.   

Mental health  

• MindEd: Provides a free online training tool for adults that is also available to schools. It can be used to help school staff learn more about children and young peoples mental health problems. It provides simple, clear guidance on mental health and includes information on identifying, understanding and supporting children who are bullied.   

• PSHE Association – guidance and lesson plans on improving the teaching of mental health issues  

Race, religion and nationality  

• Anne Frank Trust: Runs a schools project to teach young people about Anne Frank and the Holocaust, the consequences of unchecked prejudice and discrimination, and cultural diversity.  

• Educate Against Hate: provides teachers, parents and school leaders practical advice and information on protecting children from extremism and radicalisation.  

• Show Racism the Red Card: Provide resources and workshops for schools to educate young people, often using the high profile of football, about racism.  

• Kick It Out: Uses the appeal of football to educate young people about racism and provide education packs for schools.  

• Tell MAMA: Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks (MAMA) allows people from across England to report any form of Anti-Muslim abuse, MAMA can also refer victims for support through partner agencies.  

• Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group: Independent members of this group are representatives from the Muslim community and will assist and advice on all relevant issues.  

Please note that internal servers may block access to some of these sites. Schools wishing to access these materials may need to adjust their settings   

Sexual harassment and sexual bullying  

• Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (EVAW): A Guide for Schools. This guide from the End Violence Against Women Coalition sets out the different forms of abuse to support education staff to understand violence and abuse of girls, warning signs to look for, and how to get your whole school working towards preventing abuse.  

• Disrespect No Body: a Home Office led campaign which helps young people understand what a healthy relationship is. This website includes teaching materials to be used in the classroom.  

• Anti-bullying Alliance: advice for school staff and professionals about developing effective anti-bullying practice in relation to sexual bullying. 

Reviewed June 2023