The academy is fully committed to supporting and improving the mental health and wellbeing of its students, parents and staff.

Colne Valley High School does not tolerate bullying behaviour of any kind. We aim to prevent bullying by developing a safe and supportive environment in which all pupils can feel secure. Students, parents and carers should understand that reporting bullying is essential and be assured that the school will support them fully when bullying is reported.

Bullying includes being teased about race, religion, culture, disability, social class, gender, sexuality, personal differences, performance at school or any other matter.

What is bullying?
Bullying is defined as the repetitive, intentional harming of one person or group by another person or group, where the relationship involves an imbalance of power. Bullying is: deliberately hurtful; repeated, often over a period of time; difficult to defend against. The term bullying is therefore not appropriate when describing one-off incidents, accidents, incidents without intent or friendship fallouts.

There are different types of bullying:

• Psychological – e.g., excluding from groups, spreading rumours
• Cyber – e.g., sending abusive text and online messages
• Verbal – e.g., making threats, name-calling, racism, homophobia
• Physical – e.g., punching, kicking, scratching, pushing, throwing objects at someone

Bullying invariably undermines self-confidence and can create a cycle of poor performance and further criticism, potentially causing mental or physical ill-health, with consequent absence from school.

Some forms of bullying may break the law and may be reported to the police by the school:

• Violence or assault
• Theft
• Repeated harassment or intimidation, e.g., name calling; threats and abusive phone calls; emails or text messages; sexual harassment; peer on peer abuse
• Hate crimes – any criminal offence which is perceived by the victim, or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards someone based on a personal characteristic such as their race, religion or sexual orientation.

Reporting Bullying
Students and parents should make school aware of any concerns surrounding bullying by contacting the child’s pastoral team (Form Tutor, Personal Development Co-ordinator or Achievement Co-ordinator).

Concerns can also be raised by contacting the school’s wellbeing team by email: wellbeing@thecvhs.co.uk

Response to Bullying
All staff will:

• Be aware that students of any age and gender are capable of abusing their peers.
• Be aware that abuse can occur inside and outside of school settings.
• Be aware of the scale of harassment or abuse, and that just because it is not being reported does not mean it is not happening.
• Take all instances of child-on-child abuse equally seriously, regardless of the characteristics of the perpetrators or victims.
• Never tolerate abuse as ‘banter’ or ‘part of growing up’, and will never justify sexual harassment, e.g., as ‘boys being boys’, as this can foster a culture of unacceptable behaviours and one that risks normalising abuse.
• Be aware that child-on-child abuse can be manifested in many ways, including sexting, sexual harassment and assault, and hazing or initiation-type violence.
• Always challenge any harmful physical behaviour that is sexual in nature, such as inappropriate touching. Dismissing or tolerating such behaviours risks normalising them.