RAISE THE YOUTH FOUNDATION
ANTI-BULLYING POLICY
Drafted August 2012 by Jason Steele
Reviewed December 2014 by A V Connell
Raise the Youth CIC Ltd Anti-bullying Policy
RAISE THE YOUTH FOUNDATION
Anti- bullying policy
Aim
The aim of the Anti-Bullying Policy is to ensure that Children and Young Persons learn in a
supportive, caring and safe environment without fear of being bullied. Bullying is anti-social
behaviour and affects everyone; it is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Our AntiBullying Policy should be read in conjunction with our school’s Behaviour Policy, E-Safety
Policy and Safeguarding Children’s Policy.
Raise staff and volunteers will ensure that a positive service ethos is created that challenges
bullying by empowering young people to understand the impact of bullying, how best to
deal with it and agree standards of behaviour (see Code of conduct policy).
Statutory duty of schools
Raise the Youth have a legal duty under the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 to draw up
procedures to prevent bullying among pupils and to bring these procedures to the attention of staff,
parents and pupils.
Statement of Intent
Raise is committed to providing a caring, friendly and safe environment for all children and
young people so they can participate and engage in services in a relaxed and secure
atmosphere.
Bullying of any kind is unacceptable
If bullying does occur, all staff, volunteers, children and young people should be aware of
the anti-bullying policy, who to speak to and know that incidents will be dealt with promptly
and effectively.
What is Bullying?
Bullying comes in a variety of forms but is generally understood to be the use of aggression
by an individual with the intention of hurting another person.
Bullying results in pain and distress to the victim.
Bullying can be:
• Emotional- being unfriendly, excluding, tormenting.
•
Physical- pushing, kicking, hitting, punching, spitting or any other form of physical
attack. Damage to or taking someone else’s belongings may also constitute physical
bullying.
•
Racist- racial taunts, graffiti or gestures.
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•
Sexual- unwanted physical contact, sexually abusive comments, inappropriate sexual
innuendo and or proposition.
•
Homophobic- because of, or focussing on the issue of sexuality
•
Verbal- offensive name-calling, sarcasm, insults, sexist or homophobic jokes, teasing,
threats, using sexually suggestive or abusive language.
•
Cyber bullying- the use of technology to deliberately harm or upset others via all
areas of the internet, such as email, internet chat rooms, abusive or threatening text
messages, social networking sites, malicious voice mails and any misuse of
associated technology such as cameras and video phones.
•
Indirect-spreading nasty stories/rumours about someone, intimidation or exclusion
from social groups.
Children and young people with disabilities are particularly vulnerable to being bullied. This
is due to a variety of reasons including:
•
The increased likelihood of social isolation
•
Having fewer outside contacts than non-disabled children and therefore having
limited access to someone to disclose bullying to
•
An impaired capacity to resist, avoid or understand bullying
•
Lack of verbal communication leading to difficulties in disclosing incidents of bullying
•
Being viewed as a “safe target” for bullies
Why is it Important to Respond to Bullying?
Bullying hurts. No one deserves to be a victim of bullying. Everybody has the right to be
treated with respect. Individuals who are bullying need to learn different ways of behaving.
Raise staff and volunteers have a responsibility to respond promptly and effectively to
issues of bullying.
Objectives of this Policy:
This policy sets out to ensure that all staff, volunteers, children and young people have a
clear understanding of the impact that bullying can have and how to respond to and
Raise the Youth CIC Ltd Anti-bullying Policy
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manage incidents of bullying. The ultimate aim is to create a service that is free from
bullying and safe for all, everyone has a responsibility to work together to stop bullying. All
staff, volunteers, children and young people should know and understand what the policy is.
Parents/carers of children and young people accessing Raise services should also know what
the policy is on bullying, what they should do if they are made aware of incidents of bullying
and that any reports made will be taken seriously. Children, young people and
parents/carers should be assured that they will be supported by Raise when bullying is
reported and that all forms of bulling will be addressed.
Policy:
Raise The Youth will:
•
Recognise its duty of care and responsibility to safeguard all participants from harm.
•
Promote and implement its anti-bullying policy in addition to its safeguarding policy
and procedures.
•
Seek to ensure that bullying behaviour is not accepted or condoned.
•
Require all staff, volunteers, children/young people and parents/carers to be given
information about and sign up to this policy.
•
Take action to investigate and respond to any alleged incidents of bullying.
•
Encourage and facilitate children and young people to play an active part in
developing and adopting a code of conduct to address bullying.
Raise staff and volunteers will:
•
Listen to the young person.
•
Respect every child’s/young person’s right to access an environment where safety,
security, praise, recognition and opportunity for taking responsibility are available.
•
Respect the feelings and views of others
•
Recognise that everyone is important, that individual differences should be valued
and that individual qualities, contributions and progress are acknowledged
•
Be committed to the early identification of bullying and prompt and collective action
to deal with it
•
Ensure safety of children and young people by having rules and practices carefully
explained and displayed for all to see
Raise the Youth CIC Ltd Anti-bullying Policy
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•
Record and monitor all incidents of bullying to identify any emerging patterns of
bullying.
Where incidents of alleged bullying have been reported or witnessed, Raise staff and
volunteers will:
Support the child/young person:
• Children and young people who report incidents of bullying should know that they
will be listed to and supported
•
Systems should be established to promote an open culture within the service
•
Any potential barriers to children/young people talking and approaching adults for
help should be addressed at the onset (including those associated with a child’s
disability or impairment)
•
Children and young people being bullied or reporting bullying will be provided with
additional Helpline numbers
•
Reported incidents of bullying will be investigated objectively
•
Children and young people being bullied will be supported and assistance given to
uphold their right to access services in a safe environment
•
Those who bully will be supported and encouraged to address their behaviour, to
understand the impact of their bullying on others and to stop bullying
Support the parents/carers:
• Parents/carers should be advised on the services anti-bullying policy and practice
•
Incidents of bullying will be discussed with parents/carers
•
Parents/carers will be consulted on action to be taken (for both victim and bully) and
where appropriate, agreements made as to what action should be taken
•
Additional support and information should be offered to the parents/carers
including that of other agencies or support lines
Procedures
• All incidents of bullying, including suspected incidents, should be reported to a
member of the Raise senior management team, board member or a trusted adult.
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•
In serious cases parents and relevant agencies should be informed and asked to
attend a meeting to address the problem
•
If necessary and appropriate, police will be consulted
•
The bullying behaviour or threats of bullying must be investigated and promptly
stopped
•
Those being bullied will be safeguarded against continued incidents of bullying
following its reporting
•
An attempt will be made to help the bully/bullies address, understand and change
their behaviour
•
If the bullying continues Raise will consider and implement any further actions
deemed necessary (these could include exclusion from services of the bully/bullies)
Recommended Action:
• If appropriate, Raise management will address incidents of alleged/reported bullying
by means of mediation and reconciliation between parties.
•
Where this is not appropriate or fails, a small panel consisting of management and
board members will meet with the parents/cares and child/young person alleging
bullying to gather further evidence/accounts of the allegation. Minutes should be
taken to ensure clarity and agreed by all participants as a true account.
•
The same panel will then meet with the alleged bully and their parents/cares and put
the incident raised to them in order that they can give their view of the allegation.
Again minutes should be taken and agreed.
•
If the panel concludes that bullying has taken place then appropriate action will be
agreed and implemented. A means and period of monitoring should also be agreed
by panel members to ensure that the bullying is not being repeated.
•
All staff and volunteers involved with both individuals should be made aware of the
concerns and outcomes agreed by panel.
•
Where 3 or more lower level incidents of bullying occur, Raise will give consideration
as to whether a multi-agency strategy meeting should be held to consider risk and
plan safeguards.
Prevention:
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•
Raise will have a Code of Conduct policy in place that sits alongside its anti-bullying
policy and clearly sets out the expected and proper behaviour of all children and
young people receiving services in order to reduce incidents of bullying
•
Raise management team will monitor and review on a quarterly basis all recorded
incidents of alleged bullying to ensure that sufficient action is being taken to stop
bullying within the organisation
•
All Raise staff and volunteers will be given appropriate information and training on
bullying thus ensuring that they are competent in responding to allegations of
bullying and in recognising signs and behaviours in children and young people that
can indicate bullying
Raise staff and volunteers may wish to access any of the following websites/organisations
designed to give advice and guidance to parents and children who are faced with dealing
with bullying:
HELP ORGANISATIONS:
Children's Legal Centre 0845 345 4345
KIDSCAPE Parents Helpline (Mon-Fri, 10-4) 0845 1 205 204
Parentline Plus 0808 800 2222
Youth Access 020 8772 9900
Bullying Online www.bullying.co.uk
Visit the Kidscape website www.kidscape.org.uk for further support, links and advice.
Raise the Youth CIC Ltd Anti-bullying Policy
RAISE THE YOUTH FOUNDATION
This policy will be reviewed annually or when there is a change in circumstances, in
work practices or the introduction of new legislation. It will be uploaded to Behaviour
Watch for the purpose of sharing information with staff and outside organisations.
Signed
-----------------------------Jason Steele
Director
Raise the Youth CIC Ltd Anti-bullying Policy
Date: