Dear Parents and carers,

Anti-bullying week – Monday 19 November – Friday 23 November

At Brough School we aim to tackle bullying by trying to prevent it from happening in the first place, and by tackling it consistently, fairly and effectively when it does.

During anti-bullying week, your child will be doing activities as part of this preventative work which will help them to understand what bullying is, how it feels and what to do if it happens to them or if they see it happening.

Blue Friday

On the Friday 23^rd November we will be participating in ‘Blue Friday’ on which all members of the school community are asked to wear blue clothing to show their support of preventing bullying at our school.

Information about bullying

At Brough School we believe that bullying is unkind behaviour. It can include physical hurting and leaving people out as well as damaging people’s things and making fun of people.

We don’t allow unkind or cruel behaviour in our school. But not all unkind behaviour is bullying. The key characteristics that turn unkindness into bullying are;

§ That it is repeated and goes on over time;

§ That it is deliberate and not accidental;

§ That it involves the person doing the bullying having some sort of power over the person experiencing the bullying.

Children will often fall out with friends or say unkind things when they are angry. We will be explaining to the children that this is different from bullying.

We believe that most children both use and experience bullying behaviour at one time or another, and that all children can change their behaviour, with appropriate support.

How to help your child

§ Make time to talk about friendships, social life; what they like to do at playtime, lunchtime, when your child is feeling relaxed.

§ Watch out for signs of changes in their attitudes to school, frequent headaches or tummy aches, and unexpected and unusual anger or tears.

§ Make an appointment to visit the school. We will take your concerns seriously, listen to what you have to say, support and help your child and act within our anti-bullying policy.

If you would like further advice, the following organisations offer a range of support.

Anti-bullying network – www.antibullying.net

Bullying at school – www.scre.ac.uk/bully

Bullying online – www.bullying.co.uk

Childline – www.childline.org.uk

Don’t suffer in silence – www.dfes.gov.uk/bullying

Kidscape – www.kidscape.org.uk

Parentlineplus – www.parentlineplus.org.uk