What is Bullying

The Anti-Bullying Alliance (ABA) defines bullying as:
“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.”
The ABA provides many useful resources for students and parents. Click on the box below for more information.

Tell us if somebody is bullying you by clicking on the box below:

Preventing and Tackling Bullying at BBIH

Strategies the school adopts to prevent bullying

Tell us if somebody is bullying you by clicking on the box below:

  • Curriculum – this allows us to teach pupils about issues of difference and can take place through lessons, dedicated events or projects, or through assemblies. Lessons allow students to openly discuss differences between people that could motivate bullying, such as religion, ethnicity, disability, gender, sexuality or appearance.
  • Create an ethos of good behaviour in and out of the classroom – staff training on Assertive Discipline plan. Students reminded in tutor time and assemblies.
  • Create an inclusive environment. So that pupils can openly discuss the cause of their bullying.
  • Part of the anti-bullying alliance, all together programme. https://www.antibullyingalliance.org.uk/news-insight/news/become-all-together-school
  • Staff training for pastoral teams in effective anti-bullying procedures.
  • Website information and links to anti-bullying alliance website provided for parents and students.
  • Student voice/school governors audit on safeguarding.
  • The following provides an idea of themes taught within the PSHE curriculum:
    • Resilience, Wellbeing, Bullying, Identity, Relationships, Risks, Safety, Human rights, Tolerance, Communities Bullying, Gangs, Social media safety, Stress, Mental health, Relationships, Discrimination, Domestic abuse, Child Sexual Exploitation, Relationships, Racism.
  • We draw on the experience and expertise of organisations and outside speakers to inform and educate and to promote tolerance and understanding. In the last academic year, this has included the following:
    • Safeguarding assembly
    • Social media safety assembly
    • Expected behaviour assembly
    • LGBT assembly
    • Black history month
    • Religious festivals – Mental health awareness
    • Anti-bullying assembly – to ensure pupils understand the school’s approach and are clear about the part they can play to prevent bullying, including when they find themselves as bystanders
    • ‘Hope’ performance to all year groups on bullying
    • Bullying alliance ‘all together programme’
    • Regular assemblies on the school value – Work hard and be nice to people
Incidents of bullying vary from situation to situation. All incidents of bullying are dealt with, however, some were clearly more serious than others.
  • Low-level teasing/name-calling: Having a designated person for students to go to regarding bullying issues: Incidents of bullying were most often over friendship issues i.e. minor disagreements about things. Regular check-in by tutor. Introduced to 6th form student who they could report to. Sometimes students just want to talk. The 6th former would report back to tutor if they needed to.
When investigating an alleged incident of bullying, the following procedure is followed:
  • A Senior Leader investigates by getting students (bully and victim) to write statements.
  • Parents informed that the situation is being investigated and monitored. Parents updated at every stage.
  • If the victim was happy to do so, have a restorative meeting with Bully and Victim, giving Bully an opportunity to apologise (with Senior Leader present).
  • Warning given & records of meeting & statements kept on file. All phone calls and decisions logged
  • Disciplinary sanctions applied and logged. The consequences of bullying reflect the seriousness of the incident so that others see that bullying is unacceptable
  • Patterns of behaviour identified
  • Preventative and restorative action taken
  • If bullying continues, a letter sent home & sanction given to bully (from Senior Leader detention to fixed-term exclusion, depending on nature and extent of bullying).
  • If bullying still continues, meeting held with parents and a change in timetable/risk assessment put in place.
  • Work with the wider community such as the police and children’s services to agree a multi-agency approach in cases where bullying is particularly serious or persistent and where a criminal offence may have been committed
Support strategies put in place for victims and bullies:
  • Referral to Wellbeing team, school counselling service/CAMHS for ongoing support for the victim to support with social, emotional, mental health needs.
  • If attendance is affected, we do all we can to ensure bullied children continue to attend school. This could include using separate on-site provision (R&R/Wellbeing) that provides respite for bullied pupils, whilst maintaining their educational progress.
  • Close contact and collaboration with our EWO Lynn Jago if the above is the case
  • Mentors in each pathway
  • Students signposted to Kooth online counselling service
  • Peer mentoring (training provided by school counsellors and monitored by Senior Leaders)
Most recent development work:
  • Staff training and consistency campaigns to ensure a culture of good behaviour and mutual respect extends beyond the classroom to the corridors, the canteen, the playground, and beyond the school gates
  • Baseline questionnaire provided by anti-bullying alliance – sample taken from each year group
  • Parents – share anti-bullying procedures and provide an opportunity for parent voice via focus group/after school training
  • Students reporting – make it easy for pupils to report bullying by launching a report bullying link on our website – online anti-bullying tool. This has been tested and amended after feedback from a small group of students (student voice).
  • Anti-bullying ambassadors training – The Diana award