Working together to develop a lifelong love of learning, and sow the seeds of success.
Headteacher: Mrs H Kellett
Colingsmead
Eldene
Swindon
SN3 3TQ
Deputy Headteacher: Mrs W Blanchard
Email:
[email protected]
Tel: 01793 525908
Fax: 01793 487245
Website:
www.eldeneprimaryschool.org.uk
Dear Parents/Carers
9th November 2016
As national Anti-Bullying Week starts on Monday 14th of November, all classes are once
again carrying out activities and discussions to help children understand just what
bullying is, how wrong it is and how they should deal with it, whether as a victim or as a
bystander. This year’s theme is ‘Power for Good!’, and we are concentrating on activities
to encouraging everyone to use their ‘power’ as individual and groups to stop bullying and
create the best world possible - whether it is happening to them or to someone else,
face-to-face or online. We also want to raise awareness of the impact of bullying on
children’s lives if they don’t tell anyone what is happening- with a focus on the impact on
their emotional and mental health.
On Thursday 17th November we will be sharing some of the work classes have done
during the week on bullying. You are invited to come along too. If you bring underschool-age children, we would ask you to take them out if he or she starts to make
a noise. These will not be ‘performances’, but short assemblies (approx. 30 mins).
Infant Assembly: Infant Hall, 9:10am
Junior Assembly: Junior Hall, 2:30pm
While we are proud to have very few incidences of bullying at our school, we would like to
take this opportunity to remind you about how we deal with allegations of bullying in
school, and give some suggestions for what you should do if you think it may be a problem
for your child.
What is bullying?
Unfortunately, children can quite often be unkind to each other - but it isn’t always
‘bullying’. A child who calls another child a rude name, or pushes them, or threatens them
- once - is being unpleasant and needs to be dealt with and told that their bad behaviour
must stop, but is not really being a bully.
Our definition of bullying is when someone is deliberately, more than once, trying to
frighten, hurt or upset someone else.
‘This is a good school.’
Ofsted Dec 2013
We know that our parents work hard to encourage their children to respect others and
treat them fairly. However, occasionally there is a problem that needs to be dealt with.
Sometimes this is between children who were previously good friends, but have fallen out
and are being very unpleasant to each other for a short time. Children need to
understand that former ‘best friends’ don’t have to become ‘worst enemies’ - if there is
bad feeling between them, children who are no longer friends should be encouraged to
simply keep away from each other for a while wherever possible, but speak to each other
politely, as they would to anyone else in the school. We NEVER encourage retaliating
through ‘hitting back’ either verbally or physically.
With parents’ guidance, children often resolve these upsets quickly without teachers’
involvement. However, if a problem persists, please tell us - we can’t do anything
if we don’t know. Sometimes problems only occur out of school, but we would still like to
know.
Cyber-bullying is an increasing problem. Children might receive unpleasant messages
or photos by text, in chat-rooms or through online gaming or social networking sites.
Although this happens out of school, please be aware of your child’s activity when online
and please tell us if there is a problem. We can often help to sort things out.
I think my child is being bullied! What should I do?
1.
Keep calm! Of course it is upsetting for you if
your child is unhappy, but they will pick up on your
distress and become even more upset.
2.
Talk calmly to your child. Find out exactly what
happened. Don’t put words into their mouth or
immediately assume the worst. Be prepared to accept
that your child might regret something they did that
led to the ‘bullying’. This does not make what happened
right, but it helps if we all know the full story.
3.
Has it only happened once? If so, it may be
very unpleasant, and needs to be dealt with, but
it’s not bullying. Inform your child’s teacher.
4.
If you are certain that your child is being
bullied, inform the class teacher privately. Don’t
assume that nothing has been done because your
child hasn’t seen the bully being spoken to - these
matters are often best dealt with privately.
However, if the problem continues, talk to the
teacher again, or to Mrs Kellett.
You’ve accused my child of being a bully!
All children - and adults - can make mistakes. Very few
people could say that they have never, ever bullied
someone else, even briefly. If your child has been involved
in bullying someone else, we hope that the sanctions we
apply will help them to realise how much upset their
behaviour has caused, understand that it must not happen
again, apologise and then move on. We will not hold it
against them. In the rare cases that it does keep
happening, we will tell you that there is a problem and ask
you to work with us to help your child stop causing upset to
others and start to find better ways of learning to live
with other people.
We want your children to be happy in school, and to feel safe. We are proud that the
vast majority of our children do feel safe in school. However, if they are unhappy and
you think there might be a bullying problem, please let us know. We can’t promise that we
can magically end all unpleasantness immediately, or make children be friends with each
other, but we do take all allegations of bullying seriously, and do all we can to make it
stop.
Yours sincerely
Mrs H. Kellett
Headteacher