Bullying can be described as being ‘a deliberate act done to cause distress solely in order to give a feeling of power, status or other gratification to the bully. Bullying can range from ostracising, name-calling, teasing, threats and extortion, through to physical intimidation, assault on persons and/or their property’. It involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behaviour is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. Children who are bullied and who bully others may have serious, lasting problems.
The Anti Bullying Alliance defines bullying as: the repetitive, intentional hurting of one person by another person or group, where the relationship involves and imbalance of power.
Bullying is behaviour repeated over time that intentionally hurts someone either physically or emotionally. Bullying is several times on purpose.
Bullying is not a one-off argument, fallout, or incident where someone has said or done something unkind.
There are four types of bullying:
• Physical (hitting, kicking, physical damage to person or belongings)
• Verbal (threats, insults, nasty teasing)
• Psychological (spreading rumours, isolating and excluding someone, making someone do something they don’t want to)
• Cyber (use of technology e.g. internet, mobile phones, computers)
There are many forms of bullying, these include:
• Race
• Sex
• Age
• Religion or beliefs
• Cultural
• SEN and disabilities
• Appearance or health conditions
• Pregnancy or maternity
• Home or family circumstances (including marriage and civil partnership)
• Sexual
• Sexual orientation and gender-specific (homophobic, biphobic, transphobic, gender reassignment)
We at Queniborough Primary will not tolerate this type of behaviour towards our children, staff, or parents by children, staff, or parents. Any member of staff or parent, who feels that they are the target of bullying, should report this to the Headteacher as soon as possible.
Cyberbullying is the use of technology (particularly mobile phones and the internet) to deliberately and persistently harm or upset someone.
Cyberbullying has become a more prominent form of bullying with the ever-increasing advances in technology and our access to it. Devices such as mobile phones, internet-connected games consoles, tablets, and computers make it easy to target groups or individuals from a distance – it is to an extent ‘faceless’ and therefore, easier to instigate. However, this can also make cyberbullying difficult to investigate and prevent particularly given that much of it takes place outside of school.
First and foremost, we teach our pupils what bullying is and that it is not acceptable. We use the S.T.O.P (several times on purpose) to help pupils to understand what the difference is between bullying and friendship issues. We teach anti-bullying explicitly through our PSHE, RSE and British Values curriculums. We take part in awareness raising events such as Anti Bullying week each November. It is also taught explicitly through our school values and SMSC.
We hold the nationally recognised ‘Silver’ Anti-Bullying Award, recognising our dedication and strong policies and procedures in place linked to anti- bullying.
Pupils at Queniborough are taught that they can tell a trusted adult, or use our worry box
Bullying is not acceptable in our school and we work to ensure that pupils who bully and who are bullied are given the help they need. More detail about this is available in our anti bullying policy.
If you have a concern about friendships or think your child may be being bullied, please speak to your child’s class teacher without delay, who will seek support from the Senior Leadership team and Head teacher, who will investigate further. Your concerns will never be ignored.
Some useful links for parents and pupils: