Introduction to anti-bullying in schools
This toolkit contains everything you need to help you to take a whole-school approach to anti-bullying as well as responding to individual bullying incidents.
What is bullying?
The Anti-Bullying Alliance and its members have an agreed shared definition of bullying based on research from across the world over the last 30 years:
The repetitive, intentional hurting of one person or group by another person or group, where the relationship involves an imbalance of power. Bullying can be physical, verbal or psychological. It can happen face-to-face or online.
There are four key elements to this definition:
- Hurtful
- Repetition
- Power imbalance
- Intentional
What can be the indicators of bullying?
No single indicator will tell you that a child or young person (CYP) is definitely being bullied, but there are some signs to look out for, including:
- Belongings getting lost or damaged
- Coming home with physical injuries, like unexplained bruises
- Being afraid to go to school
- Being mysteriously 'ill' each morning
- Being nervous or losing confidence
- Problems eating or sleeping
- Bullying other children
What can be the impact of bullying?
In April 2022, the DfE published a report that found 21% of all pupils had experienced bullying within the last year.
There are short and long-term impacts of bullying. The longer the bullying is sustained, the greater the risk of long-term impact that can last into adulthood.
Short-term impacts can include, but are not limited to barriers to learning, missing school, being excluded, retaliation, strain placed on families/carers, self-harm and depression and impaired wellbeing.
Long-term impacts can include but are not limited to a range of mental health issues as an adult, not being in employment, education or training (NEET) into adulthood, obesity, unstable relationships, including committing or being a victim of domestic violence and experiencing homelessness.
Resources
Help! I've got a CYP or group of CYP that are experiencing bullying, what can I do?
To access a link to a padlet with step by step guidance on how to respond and support CYP when they are involved in a bullying incident as well as a collection of FAQs, click on the button:
Individual or group approach page
We would like to take a whole-school approach to anti-bullying.
To access an audit tool, action plan and whole school approach guide, click on the button:
Use the audit tool to identify areas of good practice and identify areas for improvement.
The action plan, along with the whole school approach guide, will provide you with guidance and resources for every area to ensure you achieve a measurable impact.
If you need any bespoke support and guidance, we are happy to help and can be contacted at inclusionandsend@norfolk.gov.uk or on 01603 307736.