At Great Sankey High School, we are committed to ensuring that our school community is a place where bullying is not tolerated. We are committed to creating a safe and secure environment where all students are able to reach their full potential, academically and socially, by feeling safe, happy and confident that an adult will listen and offer support when it’s needed. Through our pastoral system, we develop a culture of trust where all students are supported and have access to a member of staff who is there to champion their needs. We encourage all members of Great Sankey High School to report any bullying or negative behaviour.
Definition of bullying
Bullying is repeated negative behaviour that is intended to make others feel upset, uncomfortable or unsafe.
- Verbal bullying is the repeated negative use of speech, sign language, or verbal gestures to intentionally hurt others e.g. using hurtful words, discriminatory or offensive language, swear words.
- Indirect bullying is the repeated negative use of actions, which are neither physical nor verbal, to intentionally hurt others e.g. spreading rumours, purposefully excluding another person, damaging or stealing someone’s property, and cyberbullying.
- Physical bullying is the repeated negative use of body contact to intentionally hurt others e.g. kicking, punching, slapping, inappropriate touching, and spitting.
- Cyberbullying is the repeated negative use of technology to intentionally hurt others e.g. Posting unwanted pictures or messages, accessing another person’s account without permission, creating fake accounts to impersonate or harass someone, and sharing other people’s private information online.
Students
Taking a stand and reporting bullying requires a great deal of courage. Bullying can only thrive if it’s not reported.
Many students believe that reporting bullying will make the situation even worse. This is not the case.
- Here at Great Sankey High School you will be listened to. We will treat the information you share with us seriously and confidentially (nobody will disclose to the bully the source of the information).
- We will keep you informed and ensure you are part of the discussion around the next steps. We will communicate fully everything that we will do to try and stop the bullying.
- It’s better for you and everybody in our community that that the bully be stopped, and that can only happen once the bullying is reported.
How to report bullying
The first step is to tell someone that it is happening. If you can try to speak to your parents or carers, they will support you in telling us at school what has been happening.
The next step is to tell somebody at school. There are lots of people here that can help and want to help, such as your Form Tutor, any of your class teachers, pastoral/year staff…. In fact, we’d encourage you to find any school adult and tell them.
If you feel you can’t face speaking to someone then please report the bullying on-line by clicking on the link below called ‘It's Not Ok’. The information you share will then be sent confidentially to a member of staff in-school who has been trained fully to help support you and try to resolve what has been happening, so as you feel safe and happy once more.
Cyber bullying outside of school
- Report the person/group - Tell your family, report it to school. Cyberbullying is never acceptable and students should report the content (pictures, text, group etc.) to someone they trust and to the social media site. All social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat etc have report abuse buttons, as do most mobile phone networks who have teams to deal with abuse. Games consoles also have advice on their websites. Reporting is usually anonymous so the person will not know that you have reported the content.
- Block the person/group - Most social media sites will give people the option to block and report the person/group doing cyberbullying. When you block someone, it usually means that the person/group will no longer be able to contact the victim or see any of their content.
- Save the evidence - It is really important that the victim saves or copies any of the cyberbullying such as texts or conversations they receive so they have evidence of the cyberbullying and can show it to the relevant people.
- Not reply or answer back - It may be very tempting to reply to the person or group but don’t. Deal with the bully by blocking and reporting the abuse. It is sometimes hard not to write back, but it is always best not to retaliate. Sometimes the people bullying you are looking to get a reaction out of you and answering back can just make it worse.
- Stay positive - Although it may feel like you do not have control of the situation, you have.
Parents and Carers
Advice for families
Young people feel they often have to deal with bullying alone, and your child may worry that telling you will make you angry or upset. It’s important that you have the tools you need to keep your child safe, happy and free from bullying.
Your child will be concerned about your reaction, so try to stay calm and make sure you thank them for telling you. It is really important that you listen to what your child is telling you and observe their behaviour. Your child wants to know that you believe what they are saying and will support them through this tough time. If they are confiding in you it means that they are asking for help and support. It is important to talk to your child about how you can take action together to stop the bullying: ask them what they would like you to do. A good first step is to contact us at school and arrange a meeting with your child’s form tutor.
We ask that our parents/carers work in partnership with school, taking responsibility for ensuring and encouraging safe use of the internet and appropriate use of social media out of school time. We would like to encourage families to communicate to us, any concerns they might have about their child or others.
Any incident is resolved more effectively if school is alerted quickly, so staff can action intervention. Partnership working with families is essential whether their child is a victim of bullying or a perpetrator. Families can also contact school by the year team on their specific email address to ask that their concerns are addressed and responded to as soon as possible.
The school takes every opportunity to explain to and inform families, of the need to use the appropriate definition and shared language when referring to ‘Bullying’ or ‘Peer conflict’.
How you can help your child
- Reassure - Reassure your child that they did the right thing in coming forward; young people’s imaginations are prone to creating vivid ‘worse-case scenarios’ which can inhibit them from speaking out. The fact that they’ve come to you is a big step for them.
- Listen - Listen to what they have to say without voicing any judgement; it’s important that they feel comfortable with you taking action and that they feel some degree of power over what’s going on.
- Avoid denying access if the bullying is taking place online – Young people use technology every day for communicating with friends as well as learning and discovering. Taking it away from them can discourage them from speaking out in the future and from accessing external support. Instead encourage them to come to you if they see anything they’re uncomfortable with and you can go through it together.
Visit our Parents/Carers Online Safety Hub
Bullying can make a child feel ashamed and scared, and they’ll be most worried about how you’ll react when they tell you. Try to stay calm, reassure them and ask questions about what your child wants you to do to help them. Go through the steps above.
If you need advice from school please contact us. If there is increased tension between your child and another student or a group of students, we need to know so as we can monitor the situation inside school and act accordingly.
Great Sankey High School operates a zero-tolerance approach to bullying. This means that the school recognises the adverse effects of bullying and as a result; it is not tolerated. Therefore, on identifying bullying behaviour the school will address it effectively and promptly with support for victims. We will put measures in place that are fit-for-purpose and consider the individual circumstances of all parties involved in the situation. We will aim to put the victim at ease, be supportive and put actions in place that have a positive impact.
Where can students and families get more information and help?
Childline 0800 1111 or www.childline.org.uk
Cybermentors – social networking site giving support www.cybermentors.org.uk
Anti-Bullying Alliance - www.anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk
Anti Bullying Alliance Bullying Pack
CEOP – online safety www.uthinkuknow.co.uk – keeping safe
Parent Zone - www.parentzone.org.uk
Internet Matters - www.internetmatters.org