GATESHEAD COUNCIL Children and Young People’s Anti-Bullying Strategy 2011 - 2014

1. GATESHEAD COUNCILChildren and Young People’sAnti-Bullying Strategy2011 - 2014 Liz Elliott Jeanne Pratt Principal Educational Psychologist Behaviour and Attendance Adviser June 2011

2. PURPOSE OF THE STRATEGY This sets out how Gateshead Council and its partners will tackle bullying and harassment involving Gateshead’s children and young people in educational and community settings

3. DEFINITION Bullying is behaviour, which can be defined as a repeated attack, physical, psychological, social or verbal in nature, by those in a position of power, which is formally or situationally defined, with the intention of causing distress for their own gain or gratification. (Besag, 1989) Bullying is: • Deliberately hurtful behaviour • Often repeated over a period of time • Difficult for those being bullied to defend themselves

4. Bullying can take many forms, but four main types are: • Physical – hitting, kicking, taking belongings, destroying belongings • Verbal – name calling, insulting • Indirect – spreading nasty stories about someone, excluding someone from social groups • Cyber – mobile phone calls, text messages, pictures or video clips, e-mails, chat rooms, instant messaging, social networking websites

5. The revised strategy covers the statutory responsibilities of: • Schools – Governing Bodies – Head Teachers – Teachers • Children’s Services Authorities • Others – e.g. Police, Health Service

6. The Equalities Act 2010 protects people from discrimination on characteristics including: • Disability • Race • Religion or belief • Age • Sex • Sexual orientation

7. National Context 2009 Tell Us Survey 4: Bullying was an issue for almost half children and young people

8. Local Context 2010 PCT Health Related Behaviour Survey • 34% of pupils afraid to go to school because of bullying, at least sometimes. • 35% had been bullied at or near school in the last 12 months.

9. 72% said their school took bullying seriously

10. Anti-Bullying Strategy Group • Promote feelings of safety and positive emotional health and wellbeing in children and young people • Correlate data from ARCH hate crime reports, pupil surveys etc • Monitor trends • Take action to reduce incidents • Promote consistent good practice across all schools, settings and agencies • Promote and empower children and young people’s participation in the development of policy and practice

11. Anti-Bullying Award Criteria • Pupil / staff / community interest group • Annually reviewed anti-bullying policy • Commitment to access support from relevant agencies • Peer support scheme, e.g. playground buddies • Participation in an annual anti-bullying awareness raising event – co-ordinated with other schools • Regular, written information for parents on incident reporting and typical responses

12. Anti-Bullying Award Accreditation Process • Consultation meeting with Local Authority representatives to agree development plan • Compilation and submission of evidence portfolio • School visit by Local Authority representative • School gains award if criteria met

13. Life In School Pupil Survey • On-line – access through Gateshead Grid for Learning • Parallel versions for victims, bullies and bystanders • Asks – What? Why? Where? When? Who? – What did you do? – Did you tell anybody about it? – What did they do that was helpful to you?

14. Data Summary Reports Available: Pie Charts, Bar Charts etc. • Support available from the ICT Consultants at City Learning Centre – Trevor Carter, Peter Bolger • Under licence from Vantage Technologies • Licence fee £2,000 p.a. • Renewable mid-February 2012 • 90 days notice of licence cancellation Pick a week in October for Gateshead Schools to use the Life in School survey so the results are available for November’s Anti-Bullying Week?

15. CONSULTATION The draft revised strategy and consultation questionnaire will be e-mailed to all schools, community settings and agencies working with our children and young people