Anti-Bullying

Anti-Bullying 

Students have a right to feel happy and safe at school. The St Marylebone CE School is committed to providing a caring, friendly and safe environment for all.  We regularly engage our students in the part they play in this, in Form Time, assemblies, PSHE, the Anti-Bullying Ambassador group and Student Voice.

Anti-bullying pin picture

St Marylebone students know how to treat each other with respect and compassion.  If they fall short of this, it is important to address it in a calm, proportionate, fair and firm way.  Not all unkind acts or friendship difficulties are the same as bullying but they should be addressed so that bullying does not develop. Our definition of bullying is that it is hurtful, repetitive, intentional behaviour where there is an imbalance of power.  

We are really proud of our Anti-Bullying Ambassadors, a student group which is trained to lead and support the School’s Anti-Bullying work.  Read more below about our Anti-Bullying work in school. 

“We are a community and everyone has their safe place in it.”
Anti-Bullying Ambassador

 

Reporting unkind and / or bullying behaviour

If students do experience unkind or bullying behaviour it’s important that they report this whilst remembering it is not their fault. They do not have to deal with this alone and the School is here to support them. There are a number of ways that unkind or bullying behaviour can be reported in school:

  • Report directly to a trusted adult (eg Form Tutor, Head of Year, a member of the Safeguarding Team, or any other member of staff) 
  • Report via our anonymous reporting tool. This is also available in each form group Google Classroom. There is further information about the tool here. 
  • Speak to a student Anti-Bullying Ambassador in school. 

If bullying happens online you should also report it to:

  • CEOP, for advice on reporting online abuse 

It is important that you save bullying messages or take screenshots.  Do not engage in further online comment on this.  

 

What will happen next?

  • Once you have let an adult in school know what has happened, it will be passed to the Head of Year and investigated thoroughly. We seek to communicate with all students involved to understand what has taken place, and decide how best to move forward. 
  • Our intention is always to deal with bullying sensitively and carefully, with the aim of working together to improve the situation. When appropriate, sanctions will be given. When appropriate, a restorative approach will be taken. Every situation has to be considered individually.  
  • We have a range of support that can be put in place for both students experiencing and engaging in bullying behaviour. 

 

Work in school to prevent bullying behaviour

We have worked with the Anti-Bullying Alliance to review and inform our anti-bullying approach and signed up to their United Against Bullying programme which recognised the strengths of our work. We are never complacent and we continue to build on this.

For example, we have also engaged with the Diana Award, who provided training for our student Anti-Bullying Ambassadors (see News page here).  Our great team of Anti-Bullying Ambassadors support their peers with understanding what bullying behaviour is, how to avoid it and how to report it if it does occur. 

Pictures of our Anti-Bullying Ambassadors 

“We all make mistakes but the important thing is to learn from them, forgive and move on being wiser and kinder.”
Anti-Bullying Ambassador

Information for parents and carers

There is lots of support and advice available for parents and carers online. For example:

  • The Anti-Bullying Alliance and Kidscape put this pack together for parents and carers in Anti-Bullying Week 2022.
  • The Anti-Bullying Alliance has this advice for parents. 
  • Family Lives has this advice for parents. 
  • The Diana Award and Kidscape have published this article to explore what you can do if your child is being bullied. 
  • Young Minds has this guide for parents.  

If, as a parent / carer you have a concern about bullying, please help us to address this in a fair, firm and proportionate way.   You can report your concern to the Head of Year, and please note the ways to report listed above, under “Reporting unkind and / or bullying behaviour.”   We all want our young people to feel safe and happy.  Please avoid entering into adversarial communication with other students or their parents / carers as this can make things much more difficult for the students.  We have had really helpful and positive feedback from students, parents and carers about our work on this and we really appreciate your support.  Thank you for working with the School by supporting our anti- bullying approach.  

Our Anti-Bullying Policy is under “Our School” on the “Policies and Privacy Statements” page.