Bullying Policies

HomeBullying Policies

1 - Aims

The objective for CISB is to significantly reduce the amount of bullying that takes in our educational environment. The following will detail our bullying aims:
  • to express that the school knows that bullying is a serious offense and that there will be a zero-tolerance policy;
  • to take preventative action on all forms of bullying in and out of the school;
  • to show support to all parties involved of the bullying to help prevent it in the future;
  • provide protection to those who might be bullied;
  • to provide a safe environment and ensure the happiness of students is enhanced by dealing positively with bullying;
  • to promote an environment where it is seen as positive to tell someone about bullying;
  • to promote an environment where students treat one another with respect and care.

2 - Definition of Bullying

Bullying is behaviour by an ndividual or group, usually repeated over time, that intentionally hurts another individual or group either physically or emotionally. It can be short term or continuous over long periods of time. Bullying consists of: emotional; physical; racial; verbal abuse; and online.

3 - Identifying Bullying

Students who are being bullied may show changes in behaviour e.g. becoming shy and nervous, feigning illness, taking unusual absences or clinging to adults. There may be changes in learning behaviours, e.g. a lack of concentration, withdrawal from activities, etc. All staff need to be aware of these possibilities and report promptly any suspicions of bullying to the teacher, staff member or Head Teacher. Students should also report any incidents of bullying.

4 - Preventing Bullying

There are a variety of methods for helping children to prevent bullying through class assemblies, Circle Time, PSHE lessons, and our buddy system. Here is a list of prevention tactics that all Staff member will use at CISB:
  • must actively encourage students to have respect for each other and for other people’s property;
  • good and kind / polite behaviour is regularly acknowledged and rewarded;
  • reinforce expectations of behaviour as a regular discussion;
  • follow our policy of welcoming every child to our school;
  • be careful not to highlight differences of children or an individual child, even if this is done with being playful;
  • Staff must reinforce a general message that children do not have to be friends with everyone else, but they must be respectful of everyone else’s feelings;
  • Giving support to children who are bullied, as well as support and guidance to bullies to help them change and make amends;
  • Openly dealing with incidences of bullying where appropriate;
  • Ensuring students are well informed about whom they can tell and how they will be responded to, while ensuring all staff are approachable;
  • Ensuring that staff are available in all parts of the playgrounds at assemblies, breaks, playtimes and after school;
  • Ensuring that students are supervised at all times during the school day; and
  • Involving parents in the prevention and responses to bullying.

5 - Advice to Parents

If you suspect that your child has been bullied, please follow the follow procedures:
  • Report bullying incidents to the homeroom teacher or Head Teacher;
  • In every case of bullying, the incidents will be recorded in the Incident Log for the school’s record
  • In serious cases parents will be informed and will be asked to come in to a meeting to discuss the problem.
  • The bullying behaviour or threats of bullying must be investigated and the bullying stopped quickly.
  • An attempt will be made to help the bully (bullies) change their behaviour.
It is strongly recommended that the parents do not:
  • Attempt to sort the problem out by yourself by speaking to the child whom you think may be the bully or by speaking to their parents;
  • Encourage the child to be a bully back.

6 - Locations of Bullying

Bullying occurs around areas of the school that need close observation, particularly wherever or whenever a teacher is not directly available or when large groups of students are together. This includes:
  • Break Time
  • Group work areas
  • Toilet Areas
  • Lunch Time
  • PE / Swimming

7 - Investigating Bullying

All reported incidences of alleged bullying will be handled in a serious manner, thoroughly investigated. The investigation will include the following of an investigation:
  1. The Head teacher will ensure that everyone is safe at the school and provide any medical attention that is necessary.
  2. All parties will be separated and to a safe location within the school;
  3. The HT will discuss with potential witnesses to the alleged incident;
  4. The HT will discuss with all individuals involved with the incident;
  5. From the interviews if it is determined that a student was violent towards another student, that student will be removed from the campus as soon as possible by calling parents of the alleged bully to pick them up. No other steps will occur until that student has left the school.
  6. The parents of the victim will be called to inform them of an incident;
  7. Any incident of bullying that has been dealt with will be followed-up with both the victim and the bully, to ensure that it will not reoccur.

8 - Questions when Investigating an Incident

When investigating a bullying incident, a list of questions will be asked to finds out what occurred and to also help eliminate future bullying. These questions are:
  • Who was involved – is there or are there apparent victims? If so, who is it/are they?
  • In what way did the victim/s suffer?
  • How did the incident start? Was it spontaneous or premeditated?
  • What is alleged to have happened, from the perspective of all those involved?
  • When did the incident take place?
  • Where did the incident take place?
  • Who witnessed the incident (pupils, parents, staff and others)
  • Who reported it to whom and when?
  • Is there any background to this incident?
  • Is there any other reason for considering this to be bullying behaviour?
  • Why does the reporter or investigator of the incident perceive this to have been a bullying incident?
  • To what extent did the incident affect others?
  • What was the response of the victim(s) if such exist?
  • What does/do the victim(s) wish to see resulting from the investigation?

9 - Action Taken when Bullying has Occurred

The action taken will be dependent on the outcome of the investigation but will involve both the Victim and the Bully and will be different for each. It may involve applying sanctions against individual pupils that must be consistent with the School’s Policy. Actions that involve the Bully will include:
  • The bully will be supported to recognise, own and reflect on their behaviours and its effects;
  • The bully will be supported and advised to help change behaviour;
  • The bully will be supported to actively make amends for their actions;
  • The bully’s parents will be involved;
  • Appropriate sanctions will be applied and recorded.
Actions involving the Victim will include:
  • The victim will be supported with strategies for how to deal with unwanted behaviours.;
  • The victim will be protected (if necessary) in order to ensure their safety;
  • The victim’s parents will be involved;

10 - Outcomes and Consequences

The level of sanctions should reflect whether it is an initial incident, repeat offence or continued bullying behaviour. These sanctions are in order of seriousness with the final possibility being permanent expulsion from the school:
  • Withdrawal from fun activities
  • Parents called in
  • Official warning sent to parents
  • Exclusion from certain areas of school premises
  • Minor fixed term exclusion
  • Major fixed term exclusion
  • Permanent expulsion
For violent actions or severe bullying, the following will occur:
  • 1st offense: 3-day suspension
  • 2nd offense: 1-week suspension
  • 3rd offense: Expelled from CISB

11 - Support

There will be support for those who have been bullied, and those who bully. For those who have been bullied:
  • Opportunity to discuss what has happened with the class teacher or a member of staff of their choice;
  • Time given to listening to the student and reassurance;
  • Continuous support and monitoring of those involved;
  • Restoring of self-esteem and confidence.
For those who have bullied:
  • Opportunity to discuss what has happened with member of staff;
  • Discussion of why the incident has happened;
  • Informing parents of a need to monitor the student and change their attitude and behaviour.