Responding

reward schools use restorative approaches to respond to bullying. The focus of follow up is to find solutions and provide support with a staged approach relevant to the situation.

It is important that the child or young person experiencing bullying feels they have choice in how the school responds to their situation. The child or young person displaying bullying behaviours needs support to understand what has driven their actions, and its impact.

The response to bullying:

Uses restorative approaches: Where possible, reward schools use restorative conversations and reflective exercises that focus on labelling the behaviours, not the person. Staff receive training to build confidence in this role, and some schools use a standard framework of questions to guide the conversation. This approach seeks to help children and young people to explore what is behind their behaviours and understand the impact it has had on others. Bullying can take place, even when harm isn’t intended. This helps to challenge attitudes in a supportive and non-judgmental way and agree a way forward. 

We look to encourage empathy by highlighting the impact of behaviours on others. By building accountability, we seek to encourage young people to reflect on what is causing the behaviours demonstrated. Again, staff look to validate feelings by actively listening and encouraging ownership.

Gives agency: reward schools place importance on children and young people having choice and control in responding to bullying, including in being involved in agreeing solutions. Where parents are included in discussions, their expectations of how the school responds may diverge from the policy and they may feel they lack agency. Involving parents in policy development, maintaining clear communications and building relationships all help to manage expectations.

Pupils experience more informed supports and there is a strong restorative approach used when working to resolve incidents. Consequently, our overall reaction – and proactive stance – has enabled our young people to have more opportunities to take control of situations and work towards enhancing their sense of agency.

Provides support: Those involved in bullying can expected to be supported in response. For those who have experienced bullying, this may include practical support to keep them safe, mental health support and referrals to external agencies. For those displaying bullying behaviours, targeted support through the curriculum or external inputs is also identified. 

We offer support on how to express our emotions appropriately, sometimes this is done through a long-term intervention - through nurture groups, skills academy, play therapy, wellbeing mentors. We explore all options and apply solution focused problem solving in collaboration with the pupil - allowing their voice to be heard and enabling them to take ownership for their actions and how they can work to resolve them, all the while focusing on the positive outcomes and the strengths of the pupil.