Prejudice-based bullying

Some bullying is directly motivated by prejudice and stems from a dislike of one or more aspects of a person’s actual or perceived identity. 

Creating an inclusive environment helps everyone in the school community to feel welcome and reduces prejudiced views. These may be related to the seven protected characteristics relevant to school education. It also could relate to other areas of inequality such as socio-economic background, family circumstances or appearance. 

There are specific actions that are different in the response to prejudice-based bullying. In some cases, the response is escalated to the senior leadership team. It is quite common for external agencies, such as campus police officers, to be included in conversations. They can help pupils to understand that their actions have the potential to become a criminal act, such as a hate crime. 

Targeted approaches are put in place, either for the individual involved or for the wider school. For example, delivering direct teaching or assemblies based on addressing the discriminatory behaviour, or revisiting inclusive practices such as challenging stereotypes. In addressing prejudice-based bullying, schools remain non-judgmental and seek to respond to the underlying issues that have led to the incident.

Incidents relating to prejudice will most likely involve key partners such as Police Youth Engagement Officers and/or Youth Justice. The root cause of this prejudice should be explored. It is treated extremely seriously. 

It is vital that we have systems in place for bullying related to prejudice that work alongside ongoing work that celebrates diversity, challenges prejudice and works to minimise the likelihood of any prejudice-based bullying arising.