ST. PETER’S CATHOLIC PRIMARY SCHOOL
Anti - Bullying Policy – September 2020

Mission Statement
St Peter’s Catholic Primary School is at the heart of a Christ centred community where every person’s uniqueness is celebrated with joy and truly valued. 
We foster caring, supportive relationships based on mutual respect and love. 
We embrace the different communities to which we all belong – home, school and parish, as well as our local, national and global families. 
When we welcome the child, we welcome the family. 
We strive for excellence in all we do; to be the best that we can be.

Inclusion  Statement
Within our school we celebrate the diverse achievements and abilities of all pupils. We aim to provide within each subject the support, resources, opportunities and challenges to enable each child to achieve their full potential.
We meet the needs of our children through:
•	Planning opportunities that build upon and extend children’s knowledge ,experience and interests, and develop self-esteem.
•	Using a wide range of teaching strategies based on children’s learning needs.
•	Providing a wide range of opportunities to motivate and support children to help them to learn effectively.
•	Providing a safe and supportive learning environment in which the contribution of all children is valued.
•	Using resources which reflect diversity and are free from discrimination and stereotyping.
•	Planning challenging activities for children whose ability and understanding are in advance of their peers.
•	Monitoring children’s progress and taking action to provide support as necessary.

Definition
Definitions of bullying are different and individuals have different experiences; we consider bullying to be:
“repetitive, wilful or persistent behaviour by one or more people, which damages or hurts others physically or emotionally, leaving the victim feeling defenceless.”
Bullying is a subjective experience and can take many forms, making it extremely difficult to define. Children, young people and adults can instigate bullying. The nature of bullying is changing and evolving as technology develops. 
Bullying is harmful to all involved, not just the bullied, and can lead to self-doubt, lack of confidence, low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, self-harm and sometimes even suicide. Bullying generally fits into one of two categories: emotionally or physically harmful behaviour. This includes: 
Name-calling; taunting; mocking; making offensive comments; kicking; hitting; pushing; taking belongings; cyber-bullying (eg text messaging, emailing); gossiping; excluding people from groups; discriminatory comments, racist & homophobic & trans bullying; and spreading hurtful and untruthful rumours. 
It is a child’s right to feel safe at school and parents expect it. The ethos of our Catholic school encourages children and adults to care for each other and to regard bullying as unacceptable.

Though we primarily seek to protect children from bullying we know that bullying can take place between pupils, between pupils and staff, between staff or volunteers in school or between families. Pupils and adults should realise that bullying behaviour by anyone in St Peter’s school community is not acceptable and is not to be tolerated.
Pupils and adults should feel willing and able to report bullying behaviour, confident that they will be listened to and that action will be taken to address and remedy the situation

Aims and objectives
•	We aim, as a school, to produce a safe and secure environment where all can learn without fear or anxiety.

•	This policy aims to make sure that all those responsible for the welfare of our children are aware of the school’s opposition to all forms of bullying.

•	When an incident of bullying is reported all staff should be made aware of the situation so that they can take appropriate action should there be any further incidents.

•	All reported incidents of bullying will be treated seriously and investigated. Firm action will be taken against perpetrators of bullying.

•	We aim to support all victims of bullying and to provide within our school a climate of trust and respect for all.

•	Our aim is to make sure that all children are aware of the school’s opposition to bullying and what they can do if they witness any incidents.

•	To take measures to prevent all kinds of bullying in school, including adults towards other adults and adults towards children. 

 Strategies to combat bullying.
Through the school mission statement, R.E. programme, circle time, PSHE lessons, classroom rules, Collective Worship and assemblies, children will be made aware of the seriousness in which all incidents of bullying are regarded.

Class teachers will make their own records of any bullying in the classroom or playground, supported by Teaching Assistants. These will be placed in the electronic pastoral log for each class, which is password-protected.

Midday assistants will report incidents to the class teacher and serious incidents to the head teacher.

The head teacher will be informed if the behaviour is repeated.

Where it would be in the child’s best interests, in order to protect them from harm, the headteacher will make other staff aware of the situation, eg. staff on playground duty.

Children who bully will be made aware of the seriousness of their actions and appropriate sanctions will be applied. Children who bully will be coached to take action to begin to make amends for the situation, and to make more positive future behaviour choices.

In cases of serious or persistent bullying the head teacher will inform parents of both the victim and the perpetrator.

If a pupil persists in bullying they will be placed on the Additional Needs register. 
Outside agencies, including school’s Educational Psychologist, will be asked for advice.
Consideration will be given to beginning an Early Help Assessment.

Good behaviour is rewarded and applauded by encouragement, praise, and rewards, as stated in our Behaviour Policy.

Roles and Responsibilities
It is the responsibility of the Headteacher and Governors to implement the Anti-Bullying policy and to ensure that all staff (both teaching and non-teaching) are aware of the school policy and know how to deal with incidents of bullying .It is important to remember that all staff, pupils and parents have an active part to play in the maintenance of this policy.

This policy reflects current practice and should be read in conjunction with:

RE Policies & Mission Statement			
Behaviour Management
Equality Scheme 					
Healthy Schools
PSHE
SEN
Child Protection & Safeguarding 

Katherine Ryan September 2020                Review – September 2021