St Bartholomew's CE Primary

Considerate, Co-operative, Confident

Anti-Bullying Policy and Procedure

Bullying is neither an acceptable nor inevitable part of childhood.

Bullying has a detrimental effect on children, young people, our communities and society as a whole and any pupil attending St Bartholomew’s School can experience bullying.  The impact of bullying and the damage inflicted is often underestimated, and we know that bullying can cause considerable distress, affecting the individual’s health and development as well as their emotional and mental health.

Bullying is a subjective experience and can take many forms, making it extremely difficult to define.  However, all bullying involves an imbalance of power which may result in the individual who is being bullied feeling defenceless, vulnerable and isolated.  The experience of bullying, be it repetitive incidents or a singular event, instigated by an individual or group, can have profound and sometimes lifelong impact on the individual. 

Bullying is defined as “physical or emotional attacks that invade our personal space, usually on a passive victim, that can be direct or indirect, and result in the victim feeling uncomfortable or hurt”.

Therefore, bullying can consist of emotionally or physically harmful behaviour which could include name-calling, taunting, mocking, making offensive comments, physical abuse, inappropriate text messaging and e-mailing, sending offensive or degrading images by phone or via the internet, cyberbullying gossiping, exclusion from groups or spreading hurtful or untruthful rumours.  Bullying can take place anywhere, for example in Children’s Homes, youth clubs, schools, within the community, on the way to and from school, on the bus, via text or internet or anywhere where children and young people come together.

Here is our Anti-Bullying Policy and the accompanying procedures for if bullying occurs: