Unit 1: A whole-school approach

The aim of this unit is to develop a shared understanding of the issue and to ensure a school-wide approach to addressing it. The unit supports the establishment of a positive ethos towards bullying within the school, promoting positive relationships and encouraging tolerance and diversity. The unit also supports the school in becoming more proactive in preventing bullying as well as being honest and open in accepting that it happens and dealing with it accordingly.

The leadership team are asked to review current good practice in dealing with prejudice-based bullying and establish an action plan for improvement. To ensure clarity of message, make sure there is enough time between this and the other units to finalise school policy and procedure. The school’s anti-bullying policy is central to creating a safe learning environment and identifying and preventing bullying. A sample anti-bullying policy is provided, but it's better to use your own.

Participants will:

• know what is meant by prejudice-based bullying
• understand the importance of consistency of approach across the school
• consider the ethos in school and whether behaviour/bullying policy is clear and explicit enough so that everyone knows what to do
• consider the extent to which the curriculum covers looking at difference and diversity
• ensure that there is training in place for all staff, and as part of induction for new staff
• ensure that logs are kept and that policy and practice are reviewed regularly in response to them.

• Step 1: Introduction
• Step 2: Identifying bullying
• Step 3: Targets of bullying
• Step 4: Assessing current performance
• Step 5: Curriculum mapping
• Step 6: Responding to incidents
• Step 7: Activity discussion
• Step 8: Action planning and plenary