Bullying

Understanding how to respond to Evidence or Concerns that a Child or Young Person has been bullied. There are many different types of bullying. Bullying can be verbal or emotional. Bullying can mean taunting others or intimidating them. It could also be physical. Physical can include hitting, punching, pushing, tripping up, spitting at, throwing or hair pulling. E-bullying or cyber bullying are also common where children and young people are bullied over the internet for example social networking sites like Facebook or MSN. Bullying can also take place through other technologies such as Bluetooth, mobile phones or webcams. There are also different types of bullying in relation to social background like bullying because of religion, gender or colour. Graffiti on walls, school bags, in toilets and on desks can be another form of bullying. These can have a devastating effect on children and young people. Below I have listed all of the possible affects that bullying could have on children and young people. * Alters personality, may become aggressive or hateful * Hinders development emotionally and socially * Affects self esteem * Affects friendships, may have no friends * May truant from school * Struggles to form relationships * Behavioural difficulties * May bully others or become controlling * May bully as an adult * Crave attention * Pick on peoples weaknesses * Shouting out/putting people down * Bed wetting and nightmares * Eating disorders * Imaginary illnesses In regards to bullying there are numerous different policies and procedures that should be followed in response to concerns or evidence of bullying and there are reasons why these are in place. My school has several policies that are followed. I have devised a table to illustrate these policies. The first column gives the policy name; the second column describes my job role in regards to the policy and the final column states why the policy is in place and why it is needed. Policy or Procedure | Outline of the policy or procedure and how it should be carried out | Why the policy or procedure is in place | Safeguarding Policy | Listen to the student and take them seriously. Clarify the information. Do not ask leading questions. Do not show any shock or feelings of judgement. Reassure the student explain what will happen next. The information must then be documented on a school welfare concern form and handed over to a designated senior person, the safeguarding officer. | To raise awareness for all practitioners to help keep young people safe and from harm. To educate on the procedures for reporting incidents. To support the child. For continuinty accross the work place. | Anti-bullying policy | Complete an anti-bullying form with the student. Give the Director of Learning a copy and work together for a plan of action. Record all details with parents in writing. | Raise awareness of bullying, reduce bullying, maintain the reduction, develop ways of dealing with bullying and encourage the reporting of bullying. | Child protection policy | Being alert to signs of abuse and to understand my responsibility to report any signs of abuse to the designated safeguarding officer. | To establish and maintain an environment that is safe and secure for all of the young people. | Equal opportunities policy | My role is to deal with any prejudice-related incidents that may occur, to support all pupils in the classroom including those with disabilities and those whom English is an additional language and to keep up to date with equalities legislation relevant to my work. I must also report any incidents in which I believe do not follow equal opportunities legislation. | To see that all students are of equal value, to respect differences, to share a sense of cohesion, to ensure staff retention and development, to remove inequalities that may already exist, to consult others widely and to benefit society as a whole. In summary the policy is in place to ensure that all people are treated as equals despite any differences. | Race equality policy | I should know the reporting system and use them. This means reporting incidents on a concern form and passing onto a senior teacher within a specific time period. They must all be kept confidential. | This policy is in place to ensure that everyone is treated according to their needs and rights regardless of their race. | School Uniform Policy | All staff to be aware of the dress code and make sure it is implemented around school. | The policy is in place to ensure continuity across the school. | Every Child Matters | This is legislation that is used in all services that work with children and young people. It is legislation that was devised to support children regardless of their background. I must be familiar with Every Child Matters and know the five outcomes so that I can implement them in school to help the students achieve their full potential. | To give all children and young people the education, care and support they need regardless of their background. | UN convention on the rights of the child 1989 | To know what the UN convention is. | Leads on from the human rights act and sets out the rights of all children to be treated fairly, equally and without discrimination. | The table shows us that there are many policies and procedures that are in place in school. All of the policies and procedures can be followed in response to bullying A young person or child can be supported when bullying is suspected. The families can also be supported when bullying is alleged. The school will support the children and the carers as much as possible. The child can be supported by listening to them, taking them seriously, reassuring them and making sure they clearly understand what is happening. Families can be supported by talking to them and listening to them. Meetings can also be arranged to keep the carers involved and informed about what is happening. Outside agencies may be beneficial to both the children involved and the families. Outside agencies may include counselling or self esteem sessions. The school may have to intervene by keeping the bully and the victim separate and being extra vigilant. Making sure the bully and the victim know that they have people to talk to at school and have somewhere to go if they feel they need to. It is very important to make sure that the person being bullied feels that they are in a safe and secure environment. The bully may also need sanctions. As the victim needs supporting the bully will equally need support in order to understand why they are doing it and to prevent it happening again in the future. Understanding How to Work with Children and Young People to Support their safety and wellbeing. It’s extremely important to support children and young people’s self confidence and self esteem. Creating a safe environment for the children is vital. Young people can have high or low self esteem and by promoting positive self esteem we can instil feelings of self worth into individuals. Children can be supported in a wide range of ways; * Encourage and praise them * Allow them to feel independent * Value each child as an individual * Celebrate differences and similarities (Burnham, L & Brenda B 2011) Valuing a child as an individual means encouraging them to feel important, accepting their strengths and weaknesses, allowing them to learn from their mistakes, being non-judgemental, highlighting the child’s strengths and being understanding and supportive. Supporting safety and wellbeing means encouraging independence in a number of ways. You could encourage self-help skills or encourage the child to solve their own conflicts instead of stepping in too soon. Giving a young person or child choices so that they can make decisions on their own and encouraging children to take responsibility and ownership of their behaviours all work towards encouraging independence. Effective communication basically means listening carefully to a child’s needs and responding appropriately to them. Giving good eye contact and having the right tone to your voice and giving them time to talk before responding all aid effective communication. The child’s views and opinions must also be valued so taking time to ask for them are ways of helping a child feel supported and will enhance their self esteem. Giving praise and reassurance supports them as well as acknowledging all thoughts a young child has. Involving children as much as possible will make a child feel supported and develop their self confidence. Getting involved with their experiences will give them a sense of worth and encourage confidence. Self esteem and self confidence can be supported by helping the children and young people to recognise their own feelings, for example fear, anger, sadness and accepting that they are normal. It is crucial that children practitioners support the development of a young person’s self reliance skills. Self reliance skills can be dressing, eating, toileting or keeping clean. Self reliance skills also mean much more than this and collectively it is about taking responsibility for your own actions. This means that self reliance skills are important for a child to take ownership for themselves and recognise their own actions and why they have done them. Practitioners should help support children and young people to think for themselves, make their own decisions and take ownership for their own actions and behaviours. In order to do these practitioners must be fully aware of the child’s stage of development as children all develop at different rates. One child may be able to successfully put their own shoes on where as another would not so promoting independence suited to individuals is paramount. Having patients with young people and children and providing choices for them will encourage these self reliance skills. Maybe setting individual targets for children will also encourage and support these skills. Encouraging children to get involved and providing activities to help with self reliance skills like dressing up will in turn promote self reliance skills. Self reliance skills are important as they continue into adult hood. Self reliance skills go hand-in-hand with self esteem so good self reliance skills taught in the correct way can achieve higher levels of self esteem. This will follow young people into adult hood which shows how crucial a practitioners role is in supporting these skills. It is important to create an emotionally safe environment for children and young people to ensure that they have strategies to protect themselves and make decisions about their own safety. In my school there are various things in place to promote an emotionally safe environment. We have an open learning centre which is designed for students that for different reasons can’t or won’t access lessons. Students who have been bullied and don’t feel safe in lessons or that have been ill and had a lot of time off school can still access the curriculum but in an environment tailored for their needs. The Open Learning Centre is a lot smaller and less daunting than the classroom and provides more 1:1 support. The ‘Didbook’ is another way of protecting young people at my school. It is an online book that can be accessed by only the student, parents and teachers and is effective for communication. Anything can be written in it in terms of progress at school and anything that needs following up can be seen. Some Students also have a Passport to Learning which highlights anything that we need to know about the students. For example what they like, don’t like, what teaching methods work best for them, what they need extra support in like reading or writing. This helps to keep the students safe as it gives practitioners help in understanding students specific needs. All of these different things the school has in place also empowers students into making decisions about their own choices that will support their well being and safety. Practitioners can help empower children and young people into making informed choices that support their safety and wellbeing by putting into practice the following; * giving praise and encouragement so that they feel valued * adapting tasks to suit all children * using a reward system to encourage independence * have nurture groups and homework clubs * use an appropriate tone of voice for effective communication * involve children as much as possible, eg social groups, school councils, monitors * build up trusting relationships and respect them so that they feel safe to express their feelings We can conclude that all of the above are equally important in making young people feel safe. Our job role is to promote their independence so that they can feel safe in their school environment and make the right decisions. Without effective communication and providing ways to ensure the children can protect themselves and make informed decisions young people would not be receiving adequate support.