Sun Langauge School

ANTI –BULLYING POLICY

• Staff must be aware of the policy on bullying
• All staff must challenge any bullying behavior, including anti-racist or anti-sexist behavior
• Staff must be aware that verbal behavior can be intimidating
• All staff must be diligent in reporting incidents-even apparent one-offense
• Incidents must be dealt with and seen to be dealt with
• When investigating an incident of apparent bullying, staff must be aware that this may not be the underlying cause of this incident
• Separately, pupils must each be given the opportunity to present their version of events.
• Teachers need to be aware of whether the bullying is by an individual or a group of pupils
• A note must be made in the incident log book of any incident observed.
• Staff must not walk past any incident and leave it unchallenged.
• Follow agreed procedures for dealing with bullying incidents.
• Class teachers and school staff need to discuss the implementations of the anti-bullying policy annually.

Bullying- Possible signs

Parents and families are often the first to detect that a problem exists. Don't dismiss it.
Contact the school immediately if you are worried. Your child may indicate signs and
behaviors that he or she is being bullied. If you are concerned and become aware of any
of the following, you may wish to contact the school.

Your child may:

• Be unwilling to go to school
• Beg you to keep them home and complain of feigned illnesses
• Being doing poorly in their school work
• Come home regularly with clothes or books destroyed
• Become stressed, stop eating
• Have unexplained bruises, scratches and cuts
• Have their possessions go 'missing'
• Ask for money or begin stealing money(to pay the bully)
• Continually lose their pocket money
• Refuse to say what is wrong

Talk with teacher about bullying:

Try and stay calm-bear in mind that the teacher may have no idea that your child is being bullied or may have heard conflicting accounts of an incident.
Be as specific as possible about what your child says has happened- give dates, places and names of the other children involved.
Make a note of what action the school intends to take.
Ask if there is anything you can do to help your child or the school.
Stay in touch with the school; let them know if things improve or if problems continue.

Anti-Bullying

Staff Guidance

"Bullying has been around since time began. It equips kids to deal with life. Why do we need advice to deal with it?” Fortunately, the attitude of this person is not shared by the majority of adults. In fact, most adults, especially parents, are concerned to stop bullying and want practical ideas on how to cope and deal with it. Children who see their friends being bullied have a hard time concentrating on learning.
No child deserves to be bullied. As well as dealing with the victims of bullying we also have a responsibility to help the bullies- we do bullies no favors by ignoring their behavior. Our aim is to change the attitudes which allow bullying and to actively seek ways of stopping bullying.

How parents can help

If your child is experiencing bullying then reassure her/him that she/he has done the
right thing in telling you about the bullying. Explain to your child that should any further
incidents occur she/he should report them to a teacher immediately. If you are worried
that your child is being bullied ask her/him directly.

Take bullying seriously and find out the facts when told about an incident of bullying.
Don't agree to keep the bullying a secret.
Give your child a chance to vent her/his feelings about being bullied.
Check that your child is not inviting the bullying by saying things which may upset others.
Keep a written diary of all events.
Talk with the School Principal if it is a school bullying.

you are not satisfied:

Families,who feel that their concerns are not being addressed appropriately by the school, might like to consider the following steps:
- Make an appointment to discuss the matter with the class teacher and keep a record of the meeting;
- If this does not help, write to the Principal explaining your concerns and what you would like to see happening;

If your child is a bully:

First of all discourage your child from using bullying behavior at home or elsewhere. Show them how to resolve difficult situations without using violence or aggression.
Sometimes children bully others because:
- They do not know that it is wrong.
- They are copying older brothers or sisters or other people in the family whom they admire.
- They have not learnt other, better ways to mixing with their school friends.
- Their friends can encourage them to bully.
They are going through a difficult time and are acting out their aggressive feelings