All schools must, by law have a school behaviour policy. We expect schools to also have an anti-bullying policy setting out how they will address bullying in their school. Your child’s school’s anti-bullying policy or its school behaviour policy, should set out the stages for you to report a bullying concern. These policies should be available on their website or you can request a copy directly from the school.
You will need to refer to your child’s school’s policy for specific details of their reporting stages but below are the general stages which you will need to complete in writing. You should complete all steps in order; allowing the school suitable time and opportunity to put in place action to remedy the situation and giving the action time to take effect. It may not be possible to completely resolve the situation immediately, but you should feel confident that timely action is being taken; if not, move to the next stage in the process.
- Step 1: report to the class teacher/form teacher/head of year
- Step 2: report to the Headteacher
- Step 3: report to the school governing body
- Step 4: report to the local authority
At every step, keep a diary or event log of all contact you have made and received, making a note of:
- who you spoke to
- how you contacted them (e.g. by phone, email, face to face etc.)
- when (date/time)
- what actions were agreed and who was responsible for these actions.
Please note: You should not take to social media to complain about the school or insult, offend or threaten individual school staff. It may cause more harm but it will not resolve the issue. Remember, schools have a duty of care to their own staff as well as to your child. In severe cases, legal or other action may be taken by the school against you if you endanger staff.
You should also not take matters into your own hands and attempt to tackle other children or young people involved in the incident or their families, be this in person or via social media or other online platforms.