Select a region
During Anti-Bullying Week, a national campaign is reiterating the message that early interventions are key to tackling the issue, both within schools, and society in general.
The national campaign is coordinated by the Anti-Bullying Alliance which has a presence across England and Wales.
Yesterday, it encouraged people to "celebrate what makes us all unique" by wearing odd socks.
Pictured: The Anti Bullying Alliance is encouraging people to "reach out" during this Anti Bullying Week.
The organisation had warned that a quarter of children surveyed across England and Wales said they were frequently bullied face to face, while the situation was worse for children with social, emotional or additional needs, where the occurrence of bullying rose to 1 in 3 of children surveyed.
"The research finds that both those being bullied and the children who bully others have a bad experience of school life, disliking going to school, feeling less safe and having poorer relationships with their teachers," said the organisation.
"The research underlines the lasting effects of being bullied, with children frequently on the receiving end having significantly poorer wellbeing than those who do not report being bullied at all. Interestingly, those who frequently bully others have the poorest wellbeing whether they bullied online or face-to-face."
It's Day 2 of #AntiBullyingWeek and we are encouraging you to #ReachOut
— Anti-Bullying Alliance #AntiBullyingWeek (@ABAonline) November 15, 2022
Who do you #ReachOut to in times of need? Say thank you to them and share your story - you never know who you may inspire to ask for help!
Need some ideas? Check out: https://t.co/BStfyz4XwS pic.twitter.com/ILEXcOwFZL
The Anti Bullying Alliance 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."
In Guernsey, the Principal of the Ladies' College has spoken out today against the problem of "banter", which she has described as "territorial" and "at the heart of a wider cultural problem".
That train of thought leads into the school's wider anti-bullying policies.
Pictured: Daniele Harford-Fox who is Principal at The Ladies' College.
Dr Vanessa Mitchell, Deputy Principal (Pastoral) at The Ladies' College explained that empowering pupils to understand the complexities and dynamics of friendships is important in preventing bullying while allowing them to forge their own relationships with each other.
"As a College, we are proud of our culture which encourages a proactive approach to student behaviour," she said.
"We invest in early interventions like ‘Girls on Board’ to help our girls, parents and teachers understand the complexities and dynamics of friendships. The language we use, the methods we teach and ideas we explore with them, help empower our girls to solve their own friendship problems and recognise that they are usually the only ones who can.
"In addition to this, we have a robust peer mentoring scheme which means our youngest students are supported by our oldest. All students, staff and parents have access to a the Wellbeing Hub a 24/7 wellbeing and support platform.
"Our bullying policy is regularly reviewed in line with regulatory guidelines and includes a student anti-bullying policy, which our student action team help to develop and review. As part of Anti-bullying week, we are reviewing this policy, as well as revisiting where students can access support should they ever need it.
"This week, we asked our students to give advice on ‘reaching out’. It was clear that the messages we enforce in College are getting across because the student advice was excellent!"
Pictured: Guernsey's three private schools: Blanchelande College, The Ladies' College and Elizabeth College.
Similarly, Blanchelande and Elizabeth colleges have detailed anti-bullying policies on their websites.
Blanchelande College says that it: "actively promotes a zero-tolerance attitude throughout the school towards all forms of bullying. It does so via many sources, including the Golden Rules, PSHCE and RE programmes of study, the Behaviour policy, and assemblies. Through these and other means, all are aware that bullying is unacceptable, and pupils are given the opportunity to foster positive attitudes and conduct."
Elizabeth College states that it: "will not tolerate physical and mental cruelty and any form of threatening or coercive behaviour. We are committed to providing a caring, friendly and safe environment for all students so they can learn in a relaxed and secure atmosphere. If bullying does occur all students should be able to tell and know that incidents will be dealt with promptly and effectively. We are a school where anyone who knows that bullying is happening is expected to speak to a member of staff."
Pictured: The Anti Bullying Alliance definition of bullying.
The States of Guernsey says that it expects all schools to have their own individual policies against bullying, These will all feed into one island-wide aim to prevent bullying from occurring within any school. In a section on Dealing with Bullying at gov.gg the States Education department says:
"We take any incidents or allegations of bullying very seriously. We make it absolutely clear that we will not tolerate bullying in any of our schools, whether physical or verbal.
"All schools are required to have in place a policy on bullying, usually integrated into their whole-school policy on behaviour. Similarly, the issues underlying bullying, such as pupil self-esteem, relationships, conflict and assertiveness, are addressed within our policies and curriculum advice and in PSHE and Citizenship work undertaken in schools."
Comments
Comments on this story express the views of the commentator only, not Bailiwick Publishing. We are unable to guarantee the accuracy of any of those comments.