Whole school approach to anti-bullying in schools

There should be a senior lead who coordinates your approach to anti-bullying and oversees all responses to bullying incidents.

• The school community should know who they are and they should be written into the anti-bullying and/or behaviour policies.
• All staff should know the contact details for this person and there needs to be clear routes of communication.

Refer to these Anti-Bullying Alliance (ABA) leadership resources for further guidance and resources in relation to leadership.

There should be a named governor who oversees all responses to bullying incidents. This governor should be provided with time to understand the data around bullying incidents within your setting to be able to inform appropriate future support / provision.

Refer to these ABA governance resources for further guidance and resources in relation to school governance.

Key guidance

The Ofsted Common Inspection Framework continues to place an emphasis on the safety and well-being of CYP. The effectiveness of school's leadership and management will be judged on whether they 'actively promote equality and diversity' and 'tackle bullying and discrimination'. Inspectors will want to see:

• Records and analysis of bullying, discriminatory and prejudicial behaviour, either directly or indirectly, including racist, disability and homophobic bullying, use of derogatory language and racist incidents.
• Grade descriptors for 'personal development, behaviour and welfare' maintain a strong focus on successful management of bullying including the active involvement of young people.

See the FAQs section for more guidance linked to Ofsted.

Behaviour in schools guidance outlines that all members of the school community create a positive, safe environment in which bullying, physical threats or abuse and intimidation are not tolerated, in which CYP are safe and feel safe and everyone is treated respectfully.

The DfE statutory guidance "Keeping Children Safe in Education" emphasises the importance of tackling bullying (including cyberbullying) and also highlights that children with SEND can be disproportionately impacted by bullying. It also states the importance of teaching children to stay safe online and ensuring they don't access inappropriate material.

Using this toolkit will help schools align with the Ofsted framework, meet 'Keeping Children Safe in Education' statutory guidance and promote the wellbeing of students. It will also help schools meet the requirements of the Equality Act (2010) which places a duty on all public bodies to 'have regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation and promote equality of opportunity'.

There should be good working relationships with the police, and with voluntary sector organisations and networks concerned with bullying and other harassment issues.

Consider engaging with your local Safer Neighbourhood Teams via Your Area | Norfolk Constabulary. This is a way for local people to work with local police and partners to identify and deal with issues of concern in their neighbourhood.