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Anti-Bullying Policy

The team members of C & M Alternative Provision are committed to providing a supportive, caring and safe environment for all pupils and colleagues to enable them to engaged fully in a safe environment. Bullying is unacceptable and will not be tolerated at any time or in any situation.

We are a TELLING provider. This means that anyone who knows that bullying is taking place is expected to tell the team members.

Bullying behaviour is deliberate and repeated aggression, verbal, psychological or physical, conducted by an individual or group against any person.
Bullying is defined as deliberately hurtful behaviour, repeated over a period of time.
Bullying results in pain and distress to the victim.

Five main types of bullying are:

Physical (hitting, kicking, theft) extortion (demands for money, possessions or equipment, or forcing a student to steal)
Verbal (name calling, sarcasm, spreading rumours, racist, sexual nature and homophobic remarks)
Emotional (being unfriendly, tormenting, threatening gestures, excluding someone from social groups)
Sexual (unwanted physical contact or sexually abusive comments)
Cyber (all areas of internet, such as e mail and internet chat room misuse, mobile threats by text messaging and calls, misuse of associated technology, i.e. camera and video facilities)

Isolated or one-off incidents of intentional negative behaviour, including a once-off offensive or hurtful text message or other private messaging, do not fall within the definition of bullying and should be dealt with, as appropriate.

However, in the context of this policy, placing a once-off offensive or hurtful public message, image or statement on a social network site or other public forum where that message, image or statement can be viewed and/or repeated by other people will be regarded as bullying behaviour and reported to the Police or MASH team for advice.

It is not bullying when:

Students of about the same age and strength have the occasional quarrel or conflict.
A member of the team offers constructive or fair criticism of a student’s behaviour or work performance.

All members of the team and pupils, are subject to this code, particularly the following relationships:

Student to Student.
Student to any team member.
Team member to Student.
Parent to team member.
Team member to Parent.
Team member to team member.

C & M Alternative Provision procedures for investigation, follow-up and recording of bullying behaviour and the established intervention strategies used for dealing with cases of bullying behaviour are as follows:

Reporting procedures for Students:

Who to tell?
• Parents.

• Any team member with whom the student feels comfortable.
• Friends who will speak on your behalf.

It is important to note that records of all incidents of bullying and action taken to resolve them will be kept.

Noting and Recording

All incidents of alleged bullying will be recorded.

Procedures for Dealing with Reported Incidents:

Procedures for team members.

If a student informs you of an incident of bullying affecting either themselves or a friend, follow these steps:

Listen; encourage the student to tell their story as this is a very important first step.
Take notes; record all the details such as date, time, location, names of those involved, witnesses etc. student’s own words must be recorded.
Reassure; tell the student that help is available, action will be taken to investigate, it is not their fault and that they will not have to face this on their own.
Satisfy yourself that no student is in immediate danger.
Confidentiality is respected and the student’s privacy is protected, but a team member must not give guarantees not to tell anyone.
Inform the DSO without delay. Complete recording of bullying behaviour as per normal procedure.

Follow-up steps to be taken:
•The students involved will be monitored on a regular basis by informal discussions.

• If necessary, the parents will be invited to a meeting with management.

Procedures for Students

Pupils are expected to report bullying incidents immediately to an adult.
Where serious bullying is suspected details will be recorded by team members and other adults
Bullying behaviour or threats of bullying will be investigated robustly and action will be taken to cease the bullying.
When serious bullying has been identified parents will be informed and invited to meet with appropriate team members to discuss the issues.
If it is thought appropriate and necessary the police will be consulted.
Pupils identified as bullies will be offered help and support to change their behaviour.
Victims will be reassured that action has been taken to cease the bullying.
The bully or bullies will be subject to established disciplinary measures as deemed appropriate by the head teacher or by senior staff designated by him.
The bully or bullies will be given the opportunity to make a genuine apology to their victim(s). Reconciliation procedures will be attempted between parties, where and when it is deemed to be appropriate.
When all issues surrounding a bullying incident have been resolved, ongoing monitoring will take place to ensure that subsequent repeated bullying does not re-occur.
Awareness of bullying is continually highlighted through posters displayed in the Base.
The expectations of each pupil are outlined as part of the assessment procedure for attending C & M Alternative Provision.

The procedures for identifying, reporting and resolving bullying issues are outlined diagrammatically and are displayed at the Base. (They are also available on the website).

Bullying at C & M Alternative Provision will not be tolerated.