Bullying is unacceptable and can damage children’s individual and educational needs. We therefore do all we can to prevent it, by developing a school ethos in which bullying is not tolerated under any circumstances (see behaviour policy).  We aim to make all those connected with the school aware of our opposition to bullying, and we make clear each person’s responsibilities with regard to the eradication of bullying in our school.

What is bullying?

In Overseal Primary School we define bullying as follows:

Several Times on Purpose.

Bullying is when an individual or group deliberately hurts another or makes them feel unhappy. Bullying behaviour will be repeated over a period of time and is difficult for the victim to defend against. Bullying may be racist, sexist, or homophobic. People can be bullied for any reason; because of the way they look, because of their religion, their age, because of a learning or physical disability for example.

Bullying can take many forms, but three main types are:

• Physical– hitting, kicking, spitting, demanding money or belongings.
• Verbal– name calling, insults making racist, sexist, homophobic or offensive remarks.
• Indirect– excluding or ‘blanking’, spreading gossip, damaging property, offensive or abusive emails, text messages or posts on websites – known as ‘cyber bullying’. We believe that bullying someone by email or text messages is still hurtful and will be dealt with in the same manner.