Anti-Bullying at Hugglescote

Anti- Bullying at Hugglescote. 

We are committed to provide a caring, friendly, kind and safe environment for all our pupils, families and adults. We believe that bullying damages a person’s physical and mental health including their confidence, self-esteem and ability to develop and sustain future relationships. Furthermore, it can affect concentration, attendance and as a result prevents a person from reaching their potential. Bullying is unacceptable and will not be tolerated at our school.  

Our school values, which were designed by our School Council along with our motto, lie at the heart of everything we do. Our values are better known as the Hugglescote Way.  

We are delighted that our recent Ofsted inspection recognises this commitment:

Pupil Voice

Our children have the power to change things for the better and to make a difference. We harness their enthusiasm by providing several leadership roles across the school.

Some of the leadership roles we have are: Anti-Bullying Ambassadors, Peer Mentors and the School Council. Each class also has worry boxes and a class wellbeing representative who will check these regularly (as well as an adult).

Our Anti-Bullying Ambassadors are a passionate group of 12 Year 5/6 pupils who are trained through the Diana Award and work on specific projects throughout the school. So far they have devised an anti-bullying motto and child friendly anti-bullying policy, been involved with taking assemblies and meetings, (with parents and staff) have worked towards earning badges from the Diana Award Trust as well as supporting their peers at break and lunchtimes.

Our Peer-Mentors are a group of Year 5/6s who help support specific children on the playground at lunchtime. They actively support friendship and help resolve any differences.

Our School Council are voted in by their peers across the school. There is one for each class in Year 1-6. Amongst many roles they have been working with other schools in the area to devise an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Charter.

Our anti-bullying policy can be found: https://app.weduc.co.uk/get/external/f/id/84971d2ae498a852627293ffd44df540f32da74bd32806d53558562ce5f33fab.pdf

Child friendly Anti-Bullying Policy devised by the Anti-Bullying Ambassadors.

Bullying is defined as the repetitive, intentional hurting of one person or group by another person or group, where the relationship involves an imbalance of power. Bullying is therefore deliberately hurtful, repeated often over a period of time and difficult to defend against. This is also known as Several Times On Purpose: STOP

Therefore, bullying is not the occasional falling outs that can and do happen amongst children including between good friends. Sometimes words and actions take place due to anger or from feeling upset. Occasionally friendships break-down as children grow older. It’s part of a child’s development to understand this behaviour and learn to manage feelings, self-regulate and learn coping strategies in these instances. Unless the behaviours fit the STOP criteria these instances will not be categorised as bullying. Our PSHE Curriculum along with additional character education across the school helps to develop the children’s emotional resilience and personal development. Any instances of poor behaviour are dealt with in accordance with our behaviour policy. We work closely with the Anti-Bullying Team at Leicestershire County Council. We have attended training for running a successful peer mentoring team as well as using the Everyone’s Welcome approach.

‘Everyone’s Welcome’ is a Leicester/Leicestershire initiative which uses the ‘No Outsiders’ resource and framework to teach the Equality Act (2010) to primary school children.

No Outsiders is a whole school approach which uses assemblies and story books to teach children about all aspects of difference and diversity. These principles are promoted in the Equality Act (2010) and are in line with British Values.

We are currently working on achieving the Beyond Bullying Award.

School Contacts:

Anti-Bullying Lead- Nicky Walker Deputy Headteacher

Anti-Bullying Lead Governor- Rachel Wharrad Chair of Governors

Useful information links:

Anti-Bullying Alliance  https://anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk/

Leicestershire County Council Anti-Bullying Resources:  https://www.beyondbullying.com/

Information about the No Outsiders:   https://no-outsiders.com/

Information about The Diana Award: https://diana-award.org.uk/our-programmes-and-initiatives/anti-bullying