Anti-Bullying
Driffield Northfield Infant School believes that all pupils are entitled to learn in a safe and supportive environment; this means being free from all forms of bullying behaviour. We explicitly teach children about what bullying is, that this behaviour is not acceptable and what to do if they are worried about bullying. This is so important for our young children because unless adults talk to them about the impact of their actions and words they will not know they are causing harm and upset. It is also important that we teach them to talk openly about their feelings and/or any incidents that worry or upset them. If we know about things as soon as they happen we can support and ensure any incidents do not continue and escalate into bullying. More often than not when we speak to children about their behaviour, they have not understood the consequences or upset caused and will be upset themselves that they have caused any hurt. Likewise, we also ask parents and carers to come and speak to us immediately so that we can act early.
What is bullying?
As stated in our Anti-Bullying policy we use the Anti-Bully Alliance definition which is based on research from around the world:
"Bullying is the repetitive, intentional hurting of one person or group by another person or group, where the relationship involves an imbalance of power. It can happen face to face or online."
Anti-bullying Alliance - What is Bullying?
We teach children this definition using child-friendly explanations. Our Personal, Social, Relationship and Health Education (PSRHE) lessons focus on behaviour towards others and how to build health relationships.
The presentation below helps understand the difference between one-off incidents and bullying. This also helps to explain why it is so important that staff at school know about small, one-off incidents quickly so that we can explain to children that their actions have caused upset, support both parties and ensure nothing escalates into bullying.
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| Anti-bullying_Policy.pdf | Download |
What should you to do if you are worried about bullying?
The most important thing to do is come and speak to us as soon as you have any concern. No matter how small, we need to know about it so that we can put things to a stop immediately. Please don't feel you are bothering us or being a nuisance - this is so important we want to help straight away.
Here are some links and resources to help in understanding bullying, how to ensure it doesn't happen and how to support if there has been an incidence of bullying:
https://anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk/
https://www.nationalbullyinghelpline.co.uk/contact.html
https://www.youngminds.org.uk/young-person/coping-with-life/bullying/
https://www.nspcc.org.uk/what-is-child-abuse/types-of-abuse/bullying-and-cyberbullying/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/curations/anti-bullying-week
Anti-Bullying Week - 14th to 18th November
Of course we teach the children about anti-bullying constantly through direct teaching and incidental conversations but to raise awareness we also support Anit-bullying week each November.
One of the things we are doing is taking part in Odd Sock Day and listening to Andy and the Oddsocks new song:
