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Contents

1. Statement of Intent
2. Definition of Bullying
3. Action and Prevention
4. Dealing with Incidents of Bullying by Children

1. Statement of Intent

City of London Youth and Play Service regards all forms of bullying and harassment as unacceptable and will not be tolerated in any setting.  In order for young people to learn and to achieve their full potential they need to feel safe, respected and valued by their peers and adults.

The Service recognises that bullying is a major concern for young people, parents and staff.  Bullying can have a long term damaging affect on both the victim(s) and the perpetrator(s) in terms of their social, emotional and educational development.

The Service is, therefore, committed to ensuring that young people learn in a safe and secure environment which fosters equality of opportunity, mutual respect and co-operation. Young people, staff and parents should recognise that bullying represents an abuse of power over others.  They should also feel confident that it will be actively discouraged and firmly dealt with when it does take place.

2. Definition of Bullying

Bullying may be defined as deliberately hurtful behaviour, involving an abuse of power and usually repeated over a period of time, where it is difficult for those bullied to defend themselves.

• It can be inflicted on a child by another child or an adult.
• It can take many forms, but the three main types are:
• Physical - for example, hitting, kicking , shoving, theft
• Verbal - for example, threats, name calling, racist or homophobic remarks 
• Emotional - for example, isolating an individual from activities/games and the social acceptance of their peer group
• In addition, children and young people can be bullied via new technologies, for example: inter-net chat rooms and social networking sites, mobile phones and text messaging.

Bullying often starts with apparently trivial events such as teasing and name calling which nevertheless rely on an abuse of power.  Such abuses of power, if left unchallenged, can lead to more serious forms of abuse, such as domestic violence, racial attacks and sexual offences.

3. Action and Prevention

The City of London Youth and Play Service should provide guidance in developing and maintaining effective anti-bullying strategies. Staff should be given opportunities through training programmes to develop their skills in tackling bullying. Staff should be clear of the responsibilities regarding bullying and understand the need to reinforce and evaluate policy and practice over time. 

Guidance should be given to young people and their parents on how to deal with bullying.

Staff should use and recommend anti-bullying materials to be used in work activities and projects within the settings.

Strong partnerships between all young people, parents, staff and the Service should be maintained to enable the elimination of bullying.

The City of London Youth and Play Service believe that as a matter of entitlement:

A young person should be able to approach any member of staff within the setting with personal concerns

Support should be offered to young people for whom English is not their first language to communicate needs and concerns.

A young person being bullied should be listened to in an appropriate setting.  They should have their concerns addressed and will be told of the action to be taken.

A young person suspected of bullying should be listened to in an appropriate setting.  Staff should present them with the established facts, following the investigation of any allegation.  Staff should help the young person to understand the seriousness and damaging consequences of their bullying behaviour and the reasons for any action taken.

Parents and carers should expect that their children will learn in a safe, secure and caring community and staff will take all reasonable steps to prevent bullying.  Any incident or allegation of bullying will be investigated and dealt with.

Bullying "on-line" in chat rooms or on social networking sites, and bullying by the use of mobile phones and cameras is an increasing concern for children, young people and their parents. It is important that parents and carers, and staff in schools and other settings where children have regular access to new technology, recognise the importance of ensuring that children and young people understand the does and don'ts of safe use of technology. Parents and carers should monitor their children's use of the internet.

See the Internet Security Procedure

In order to maintain an effective strategy for dealing with bullying, the traditional ideas about bullying should be challenged, e.g.

• It's only a bit of harmless fun.
• It's all part of growing up
• Children just have to put up with it.
• Adults getting involved make it worse.

Clear messages must be given that bullying is not acceptable and children must be reassured that significant adults involved in their lives are dealing with bullying seriously.

A climate of openness should be established in which children are not afraid to address issues and incidents of bullying.

Consideration should always be given to the existence of any underlying issues in relation to race, gender and sexuality.  This should be addressed and challenged accordingly.

Where a child is thought to be exposed to bullying, action should be taken to assess the child's needs and provide support services.

A range of active listening techniques which provide a more helpful response include:

THE LISTENER:	Listening patiently with full attention, encouraging, clarifying, restating.
THE DETECTIVE:	Investigating the situation sensitively and patiently.
THE SUPPORTER:	Seeing their side, acknowledging and allowing expression of their feelings.
THE COACH:	Checking out what help is being asked for and offering practical, realistic help.

If the bullying involves a physical assault, as well as seeking medical attention where necessary, consideration should be given to whether there are any child protection issues to consider. Consideration should also be given to referring to the police, as a criminal offence may have been committed.

4. Dealing with Incidents of Bullying by Children

Creating an Anti-Bullying climate that is conducive to equality of opportunity, co-operation, and mutual respect for differences can be achieved by, for example:

• Low Tolerance of Minor Bullying - "Nipping in the bud" the incidents at the earliest sign.
• Never ignoring victims of bullying, always showing an interest/concern.
• Publicly acknowledging the bullied child's distress.
• Organising quality groups/circles, which allow children to work together to identify their own problems, causes and solutions with sensitive facilitators.
• It is important when addressing bullying behaviour by another child to avoid accusations, threats or any responses that will only lead to the child being uncooperative, and silent.

The focus should be on the bullying behaviour rather than the child and where possible the reasons for the behaviour should be explored and dealt with. A clear explanation of the extent of the upset the bullying has caused should be given and encouragement to see the bullied child's points of view.

The children (bully and bullied) should then be closely monitored. The times, places and circumstances in which the risk of bullying is greatest should be ascertained and action taken to reduce the risk of recurrence.

Whatever plan of action is implemented after the above issues have been identified, the plan must be reviewed with regular intervals and amended if necessary to ensure that the bullying has ceased.

End