Anti-Bullying (Child on Child Abuse)

Birches Head Academy wants to make sure that all pupils feel safe and accepted into our school community. Our Anti-Bullying Policy is one of inclusion and equality; bullying of any kind is regarded as a serious breach of our behaviour policy and will not be tolerated. The Equality Act became law in 2010. It covers everyone in Britain and protects people from discrimination, harassment and victimisation; there are nine protected characteristics, which are listed below:

Age
Disability
Gender reassignment
Race
Religion or belief
Marriage or civil partnership
Sex
Sexual orientation
Pregnancy and maternity

Bullying can take various forms including verbal, non-verbal, physical, visual, cyber bullying, written and the use of inappropriate language; these can be directed at both staff and pupils. The Academy practises a preventative strategy to reduce the chances of bullying, and our anti-bullying policy is instilled in our vision, our curriculum and everything we do at the Academy. It is made very clear to pupils what is expected of them in terms of respecting their peers, members of the public, and staff, and any intentional breach of this will result in disciplinary action. In line with our vision and moral values and ‘Be more’ curriculum.

Type of Bullying	Definition
Emotional	Being unfriendly, excluding, tormenting
Physical	Hitting, kicking, pushing, taking another’s belongings, any use of violence
Prejudice-based and discriminatory, including: Racial Faith-based Gendered (sexist) Homophobic/biphobic Transphobic Disability-based Sexist	Taunts, gestures, graffiti or physical abuse focused on a particular characteristic (e.g. gender, race, sexuality)
Sexual	Explicit sexual remarks, display of sexual material, sexual gestures, unwanted physical attention, comments about sexual reputation or performance, or inappropriate touching
Direct or indirect verbal	Name-calling, sarcasm, spreading rumours, teasing
Cyber-bullying	Bullying that takes place online, such as through social networking sites, messaging apps or gaming sites

Child on Child abuse

Children may be harmed by other children or young children. Staff may be aware of the harm caused by bullying and will use anti-bullying procedures where necessary. However, there will be occasions when a pupil’s behaviour warrants a response under child protection rather than anti-bullying procedures. Staff will refer to the Academy Safeguarding Policy and act accordingly.

Birches Head Academy will not tolerate Child on Child abuse in any form. The Academy have Anti-Bullying ambassadors who work with staff to support all members of the Academy. Pupils, parents and staff can report ant incidents of suspected bullying to Form Tutors, Learning Coaches, Heads of Learning and the Safeguarding team. All reported incidents will be fully investigated, with all parties informed throughout the investigation process. We have an online reporting system called ‘Tell Us’ that provides a confidential way in which the College can be informed.

This applies to incidents inside and outside the Academy premises (including incidents online). The safeguarding team hold records of all incidents of reported bullying and outcomes. Following any incident, the Academy will support all pupils involved to ensure they feel safe and comfortable in the Academy. All related sanctions will be applied in line with the Academy Behaviour and Safety policy. Annual training is delivered to all staff to support all adults to prevent and identify bullying issues.

If an allegation of bullying does arise, the Academy will:

take it seriously
endeavour to use restorative justice at all time
act as quickly as possible to establish the facts
record and report the incident; depending on how serious the case is, it may be reported to the Principal
provide support and reassurance to the victim make it clear to the ‘bully’ that this behaviour will not be tolerated. If there is a group of people involved, they will be spoken to individually and as a whole group. It is important that pupils who have harmed another, either physically or emotionally, redress their actions with a focus on restorative justice, and the College will make sure that they understand what they have done and the impact of their actions. ensure that if a sanction is used, it will correlate to the severity of the incident and the ‘bully’ will be told why it is being used consider a fixed term exclusion in cases of repeated bullying.