Bullying is where a person or group of people pick on someone whom they feel is weaker or in some way different. Bullying can take the form of name-calling, teasing, mocking, spreading malicious rumours, threatening someone, taking money or property, physical abuse, sexual or racial harassment. A person can be bullied face to face, in writing through notes or letters, or via electronic means such as text messaging or messages posted on the Internet. Bullying may make someone feel unhappy, isolated, hurt, angry, frightened or unsafe. If it carries on for a long time it can be very depressing and can cause serious emotional harm.

We aim

To prevent bullying and to stop it if it occurs
To encourage people to show respect to each other
To create a culture in the school where bullying is unacceptable
To ensure that people know they do not need to suffer in silence
To encourage people to tell about bullying

Everyone at Tormead will do this by

Making sure there is a clear, agreed understanding of bullying and its effects
Addressing issues of bullying, self-esteem, confidence, well-being in the curriculum
Having clear strategies for preventing bullying
Having clear procedures for dealing with bullying if it occurs
Encouraging people to tell when they see or experience bullying
Giving support to those who have been bullied and those who have bullied others

Roles and responsibilities

Students should

Show respect to every person in the school and avoid saying or doing anything which they realise will hurt others
Support school projects against bullying
Advise the school about ideas which they think will help prevent bullying
Take every opportunity to show that they are against bullying and not ‘follow the crowd’ or ‘turn a blind eye’
Report any incident of bullying
Offer support to anyone they see being bullied

All staff should

Show by example that it is possible to be fair, clear and firm without being a bully
Create an atmosphere of trust and respect where students feel their concerns are taken seriously
Show by example that they are committed to preventing and dealing with bullying in the school
Listen to complaints and concerns about bullying and take appropriate action
Know when and where bullying is most likely to take place
Make sure that those who have been bullied are informed about what action has been taken
Develop and use a wide range of appropriate approaches when taking action against bullying

Parents should

Encourage their daughters to follow the Code of Conduct
Support the school in its policy against bullying by discussing it with their daughters
Inform the school if they believe their daughter is being bullied
Contact the school if they have any concern about bullying
Expect the school to take bullying seriously
Support the school in whatever actions it takes to prevent and deal with bullying

Guidelines for pupils

If you are being bullied or you think that someone you know is being bullied, you need to do something about it. If you do not, the bully may carry on with her behavior and other people may suffer. Below are some guidelines for what you should do and what may happen.

If you or someone you know is being bullied, you must tell someone about it. We appreciate that this may be difficult, but some ways of doing this are:

Giving your Form Tutor, or some other adult you trust a note asking for a private conversation
Staying back at the end of a lesson to talk to a teacher (you can say that you need to ask about homework)
Confiding in a friend and going together to see an adult you feel you can trust

When you tell an adult they will need to act on what you have told them. They will probably tell your Form Tutor, Head of Section and/or the Deputy Headmistress (Pastoral), depending on what you have said. They will then decide what needs to be done. It is likely that we will first talk to the person who feels they are being bullied, or has reported the bullying incident, and then to the person whom they feel may be a bully. It is very important that this is done, but also very important that details of who has alleged that bullying is taking place are not revealed. Questions such as:

‘I wonder if you know anything about X?’
‘I wonder if you could help me?’
‘Mrs X thought that Y looked a bit upset yesterday, do you know why?’ etc. will be asked so that we keep the source of information confidential.

Questions will be asked so that we get as clear a picture as possible of what has been going on.

The person who feels they have been bullied will be told what has happened and given suggestions for strategies that will make them feel able to cope, if any other problems arise.

Any problems that the bully has will be dealt with. They will be told to stop any bullying behaviour and helped to ensure that there are no further incidents.

Guidelines for Staff

If anyone discloses to you that she is being bullied or that they feel that someone else is being bullied you should:

Listen very carefully and in a non-judgemental fashion to what you are told (make notes at the time if this is appropriate) and give this your full attention. Assure them that the matter will be taken very seriously. Inform them that you will need to talk to other members of staff e.g. the Form Tutor, Head of Section, Deputy Head (Pastoral), but that the matter will be treated with the strictest confidence (see student guidelines for suggestions for ways of dealing with this).

Statements will then be taken from the person who is being bullied, the bully and anyone else involved, taking care to maintain the confidentiality of the source of the information.

If it is shown that bullying has taken place, the bully will be treated according to the nature of the incident.

In ‘mild’ cases the bully will be admonished and told to stop.

In more severe cases a punishment, such as a detention may be imposed. If necessary, the parents of a student may be called in.

In very severe cases a student may be suspended from school for a period of time.

The person being bullied will be given strategies to help prevent any further incidents.

It is very important that a written record of all incidents should be made and given to the office to be placed on a girl’s file. (Even a trivial incident may be part of a larger picture.)