Anti Bullying

Introduction

We are committed to providing a caring, friendly and safe environment for all of our pupils so that they can learn in a relaxed and secure atmosphere. Bullying of any kind is not tolerated under any circumstances as it is an extreme form of unkindness. If bullying does occur, all pupils should be able to tell and know that incidents will be dealt with promptly and effectively. We are a TELLING school.  This means that anyone who knows that bullying is happening is expected to tell the staff. All aspects of bullying are to be treated seriously and every effort must be made to establish the cause of such behaviour and eradicate it.
We firmly believe in being proactive in our approach to safeguarding against bullying. The development of social skills and the reinforcement of positive behaviour is addressed during PSHCE sessions and school assemblies.

What is bullying?

Bullying is the use of aggression with the intention of hurting another person.  Bullying results in pain and distress to the victim.

Bullying can be:
• Emotional: being unfriendly, excluding, tormenting (e.g. hiding books, threatening gestures);
• Physical: pushing, kicking, hitting, punching or any use of violence;
• Racist: racial taunts, graffiti, gestures;
• Sexual: unwanted physical contact or sexually abusive comments;
• Homophobic: because of, or focusing on the issue of sexuality;
• Verbal: name-calling, sarcasm, spreading rumours, teasing;
• Cyber: all areas of the Internet, such as email & Internet chatroom misuse; as well as mobile threats by text messaging and calls, and the misuse of associated technology , e.g. camera and video facilities.

Why is it important to respond to bullying?

Bullying hurts.  No one deserves to be a victim of bullying.  Everybody has the right to be treated with respect.  Pupils who are bullying need to learn different ways of behaving.

The Anti-Bullying Council (the Friendship Circle)

An ‘Anti-Bullying Council’, which consists of a male and female representative from Years 5 & 6 and two designated pupils from Years 1 – 4, meets on a bi-weekly basis with the deputy headteacher. These pupils are actively encouraged to discuss incidents/situations that they are aware of or that might occur. The emphasis is on dealing with the problem with a non-confrontational and empathetic approach. We are confident that, by involving the children in this way, they and their peers will become more sensitive towards bullying issues and spread an awareness. Should any problem occur, the children are encouraged to seek assistance from the Anti-Bullying Council; if the problem persists, a teacher should be approached and finally, should all else fail, then the headteacher should be asked to deal with the situation.
 
Safeguarding Children

Photography

 
At Forest Park, we record and evidence the efforts and achievements of our pupils through the use of video and photography. These are often used within the school as part of the learning process and to celebrate the successes of children.

We highlight pupil’s participation and achievements in school events and use photographs of pupils along with examples of their work. Photographs will only be taken on the school cameras and downloaded onto school systems. These may be used in school displays, publications or on the website. Where images of pupils are used, we only identify a pupil by their first name or class, unless further permission has been granted. From time to time, we invite the local press to cover events and these stories may be featured in the local newspaper. (Refer to EY policy for more details).

There has been a lot of controversy surrounding adult photographing and filming children. The concerns are genuine, however, we have decided to take a sensible, balanced approach that allows parents to photograph and film providing they follow certain guidelines:

• Parents consent to the school taking videos and photographs through a signed written permission slip; and
• School photographs that are for use outside of school are anonymous, unless specific permission has been received from parents.