Anti-Cyber bullying Policy

 

We believe cyber bullying is the use of a mobile phone or the internet to deliberately upset another person. We have a responsibility to ensure that cyber bullying does not take place in this school by ensuring pupils, school personnel and parents understand what it is and how it can be prevented.

 

We understand cyber bullying is highly intrusive and the hurt it causes can be very severe. As it leaves no physical scars cyber bullying is not easy to detect by a parent or a teacher.

 

We acknowledge cyber bullying can take place anywhere and can target pupils and school personnel. There are many types of cyber bullying such as text messages, picture/video clips, mobile phone calls, emails, chat room bullying, instant messaging and the use of websites to convey threats, intimidation, harassment etc.

 

We wish to work closely with the School Council and to hear their views and opinions as we acknowledge and support Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child that children should be encouraged to form and to express their views.

 

Aims

 

·         To ensure pupils, school personnel and parents understand what cyber bullying is and how it can be prevented.

·         To have in place procedures to prevent incidents of cyber bullying.

·         To have in place effective procedures to deal with all reported incidents of cyber bullying.

 

Procedure

 

Role of Governing Body

The Governing Body has:

·         delegated powers and responsibilities to the Headteacher to ensure pupils, school personnel and parents are aware of and comply with this policy;

·         appointed an ICT coordinator to review how the school network is monitored;

·         nominated a link governor to visit the school regularly, to liaise with the coordinator and to report back to the Governing Body;

·         responsibility for the effective implementation, monitoring and evaluation of this policy

 

Role of the Headteacher

The Headteacher will:

·         ensure all school personnel, pupils and parents are aware of and comply with this policy;

·         work closely with the ICT coordinator to review how the school network is monitored;

·         provide support for those pupils and school personnel who may be victims of cyber bullying;

·         deal with all incidents of cyber bullying quickly and effectively;

·         monitor the effectiveness of this policy;

·         annually report to the Governing Body on the success and development of this policy

 

Role of the ICT Coordinator

The coordinator will:

·         work closely with the Headteacher to ensure that:

 

-       the Acceptable Use Policy is up to date

-       the school network is monitored

-       information is provided for pupils and parents

 

·         provide guidance and support to all staff;

·         ensure cyber bullying is discussed during staff meetings and inset days;

·         keep up to date with new developments and resources;

·         review and monitor;

·         annually report to the Governing Body on the success and development of this policy

 

Role of School Personnel

School personnel will:

·         comply with all the afore mentioned aspects of this policy;

·         be alert to the dangers of cyber bullying;

·         report all incidents of cyber bullying to a member of the SLT;

·         ensure that no pupil has unsupervised access to the Internet;

·         regularly remind pupils of:

-       the safe use of the IT suite;

-       the Acceptable Use Policy;

-       the need to report any incident of cyber bullying to a member of the school personnel;

·         inform pupils of the dangers of cyber bullying through PSHE, collective worship, anti-bullying week activities etc;

·         be advised not to give their mobile phone numbers or email addresses to any pupil;

·         be advised not to accept as a ‘friend’ any pupil on to their Face Book page;

·         seek the views of pupils in monitoring and evaluating this policy

 

Role of Pupils

Pupils will:

·         comply with all the afore mentioned aspects of this policy;

·         sign an Acceptable Use of ICT contract;

·         be encouraged to report all incidents of cyber bullying to a member of the school personnel;

·         not bring mobile phones to school unless absolutely necessary;

·         hand in mobile phones to the class teacher for safekeeping.

 

Role of Parents

Parents will:

·         be made aware of this policy;

·         comply with this policy;

·         sign an Acceptable Use of ICT contract;

·         be encouraged to discuss the Acceptable Use of ICT contract with their children;

·         report all incidents of cyber bullying involving their child to the school

 

Recording and Reporting

·         All reported incidents are investigated and dealt with.

·         Parents are informed of all events and what actions have been taken.

·         Records will be kept of all incidents and their outcomes.

 

Dealing with Cyber bullying Incidents

The Headteacher will:

·         deal with all incidents of cyber bullying quickly and effectively;

·         impose sanctions as outlined in the school’s Behaviour policy on any pupil identified as being the bully;

·         contact the police and social services if the cyber bullying is sufficiently severe;

·         keep parents informed of the school’s actions

 

Counseling and support

·         Counseling and support mechanisms are in place to help those who have been bullied.

·         All perpetrators of bullying are given time to discuss why they have bullied and why their actions were wrong.

 

Monitoring of the Policy

Annually the effectiveness of this policy will be reviewed, or when the need arises, and the necessary recommendations for improvement will be made to the governors.