Anti- Bullying, including Cyber-bullying Policy
Policy Statement
The purpose of this policy is:
to help prevent bullying from happening to students in our care
to make sure bullying is stopped as soon as possible if it does happen and that those involved receive the support they need
to provide information to all staff, homestays, volunteers, students and their parents about what we should all do to prevent and deal with bullying.
Oxford Education Services believes that children should be protected from all sorts of maltreatment and potential harm. They should not experience any sort of harm. We have the responsibility to promote the welfare of all children and to keep them safe and to practise in a way that protects them.
We recognise that bullying causes real distress. It can affect a person’s health and development and at the extreme, can cause significant harm. All children regardless of age,disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. have the right to equal protection from all types of harm or abuse. Everyone has a role to play in preventing all forms of bullying(including cyber- bullying) and putting a stop to it.
Contact Details
Nominated anti-bullying lead
Name: Dr.Helen Wu
Phone/email:07769259218
Designated lead for safeguarding and child protection
Name: Dr.Iling Lee Chang
Phone/email:07714145162
NSPCC Helpline: 0808 800 5000
Policy
Definition
Bullying is repeated and is intended to hurt someone either physically or emotionally.It is also aimed at certain groups, which might because by race, religion, gender, sexual orientation or disability.There are many different forms of bullying behaviors, such as physical, verbal ,indirect bullying and technological/cyber bullying.
The NSPCC explains that bullying can take different forms. It could include:
physical bullying: hitting, slapping or pushing someone;
verbal bullying: name calling, gossiping or threatening someone;
non-verbal abuse:hand signs or text messages;
emotional abuse:threatening, intimidating or humiliating someone;
exclusion:ignoring or isolating someone;
undermining,constant criticism or spreading rumours;
controlling or manipulating someone;
making silent,hoax or abusive calls;
racial, sexual or homophobic bullying;
bullying someone because they have a disability.
The NSPCC explains that no single sign will indicate for certain that a child is being bullied, but watch out for:
belongings getting 'lost' or damaged;
physical injuries, such as unexplained bruises;
being afraid to go to school, being mysteriously 'ill' each morning, or skipping school;
not doing as well at school;
asking for, or stealing, money (to give to whoever is bullying them);
being nervous,losing confidence, or becoming distressed and withdrawn;
problems with eating or sleeping;
bullying others.
- Physical bullying
Physical bullying is using one's body and physical bodily acts to exert power over peers,including hitting, kicking, tripping, pinching and pushing or damaging property. Physical bullying causes both short term and long-term damage.
- Verbal bullying
Verbal bullying is when an individual uses verbal language to gain power over his or her peers, including name calling, insults, teasing, intimidation, sexual or racist remarks etc. Verbal bullying can escalate to levels which start affecting the individual target.
Emotional bullying
Emotional bullying could be one of the most damaging bullying. It can be defined as threatening someone into social isolation and involves social manipulation which is known as social bullying.
Emotional bullying is often harder to recognise and can be carried out behind the back of the person who is being bullied. It can humiliate and ruin someone's social reputation. There are some examples of indirect bullying below:
lying,fake rumours and spreading gossip
Socially excluding someone online, cyber bullying,negative comments on posts and images
Leaving someone out constantly and encouraging others to do the same
encouraging others to turn against someone
Oxford Education and Services will seek to prevent bullying by:
developing a code of behaviour that sets out how everyone involved in our organisation is expected to behave, in face-to-face contact and online, and within and outside of our activities;
holding discussions with staff, homestays, volunteers and students in our care about bullying and how to prevent it. These discussions will focus on:
group members’ responsibilities to look after one another and uphold the behaviour code;
practising skills such as listening to each other;
respecting the fact that we are all different;
making sure that no one is without friends;
dealing with problems in a positive way;
checking that our anti-bullying measures are working well.
providing support and training for all staff, homestays and volunteers on dealing with all forms of bullying, including cyber bullying,racial, sexist, homophobic and sexual bullying;
making sure our response to incidents of bullying takes into account:
the needs of the person being bullied;
the needs of the person displaying bullying behaviour;
needs of any bystanders;
our organisation as a whole.
reviewing the plan developed to address any incidents of bullying at regular intervals, in order to ensure that the problem has been resolved in the long term;
Making parents fully aware of our procedures by providing them with a copy of this policy.
Cyber bullying
Cyber bullying can be overt or covert bullying behaviours.It is a form of bullying or harassment using electronic means, including hardware such as computers and smart phones, and software such as social media, gaming sites, instant messaging, texts, websites and other online platforms.
The NSPCC defines Cyber bullying as any type of abuse that happens on the web, whether through social networks, playing online games or using mobile phones. Children and young people may experience cyber bullying (bullying that takes place using technology including social media sites, mobile phones, gaming sites), grooming(building an emotional connection with a child to gain their trust for the purposes of sexual abuse, sexual exploitation or traffic king), sexual abuse,‘sexting’ or youth produced imagery, sexual exploitation, county lines gang recruitment, radicalisation or emotional abuse from people they know as well as from strangers.
Cyber bullying can happen at any time. It can be in public or in private and sometimes only known to the target and the person bullying.Cyber bullying can include:
Abusive or hurtful texts emails or posts, images or videos
Distributing non-consensual images
Deliberately excluding others online
Nasty gossip or rumours
Internet abuse -to create fake accounts, steal someone’s online identities to embarrass a pupil.
Online Safety – Areas of risk
An effective approach to online safety empowers a school, college,guardian or homestay to protect and educate students in their use of technology and establishes mechanisms to identify, intervene in and escalate any incident where appropriate.
The breadth of issues classified within online safety is considerable,but can be categorised into three areas of risk:
content: being exposed to illegal, inappropriate or harmful material, for example web pages, indecent images of children or pro-eating disorder or self-harm websites;
contact: being subjected to harmful online interaction with other users, for example cyber bullying or grooming; and
conduct: personal online behaviour that increases the likelihood of, or causes, harm.
Possible signs of online abuse:
The NSPCC list possible signs of a child experiencing abuse online if they demonstrate a change in behaviour or unusual behaviour:
Being upset after using the internet or their mobile phone;
Unwilling to talk or secretive about their online activities and mobile phone use;
Spending much more or much less time texting, gaming or using social media;
Many new phone numbers, texts or e-mail addresses show upon their mobile phone, laptop or tablet;
After texting or being online they may seem withdrawn,upset or outraged;
Not wanting to go to school and/or avoiding meeting friends and school mates;
Avoiding formerly enjoyable social situations;
Difficulty sleeping;
Low self-esteem.
The possible signs of abuse could be seen through reports from students or schools, incident reporting by staff, and/or Local Co-ordinator reports. In response to a safeguarding report the matter would be dealt with in accordance with the ‘Managing Incidents’ Policy and Process.
Oxford Education and Services clearly has a role to play in reporting possible online abuse early so that prompt action can betaken to protect any children who are found to be at risk.
To find more information for bullying and cyber bullying, please go to www.nspcc.org.uk.
Oxford Education and Services Staff
The Code of Conduct for Staff provides staff with information on how to minimise the risks attached to digital and video images of students.
Homestays
Homestays play a crucial role in ensuring that the students who stay with them use the internet and mobile devices in accordance with the guidance contained within the
Homestay Manual. Oxford Education and Services will take every opportunity to help homestays understand the issues through regular meetings with homestays .
Oxford Education and Services encourage homestays to set an appropriate agreement with students in order to supervise internet access and set boundaries about what they can and cannot do online. If a child breaks the rules, we would ask the homestay to restrict internet access for an agreed period of time.
Homestays are asked to use privacy settings, parental controls and built in internet safety features provided by the major internet service providers.
For parents and carers (homestays) experiencing any internet safety issues with their children, O2 and the NSPCC have set up a helpline: 0808 800 5002.
Oxford Education and Services asks homestays to be doing all that they reasonably can to limit children’s exposure to the above risks from the IT systems at the home. As part of this process, homestays should ensure appropriate filters and monitoring systems are in place. Whilst considering their responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, and provide them with a safe environment in which to learn, homestays should consider the age range of their pupils, the number of pupils, and how often they access the IT system.
The NSPCC website ‘Online Safety’ outlines controls that homestays can implement to filter and monitor what a child in their house can see, including checking that parents know how to use privacy settings and reporting tools:
https://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/
The NSPCC provide advice for homestays on parental controls which allow a number of different things to happen including filtering and blocking content, setting different profiles so that each family member can access age appropriate content and restricting information that can be shared:
https://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/parental-controls/
Students
Students are responsible for using the internet and mobile devices in accordance with the guidance in the Student Handbook. Students must know the importance of adopting good online safety practice and reporting misuse, abuse or access to inappropriate materials and know how to report these concerns. Oxford Education and Serives further supports students in raising their awareness of how to stay safe online through our social media updates,policies and website.
Oxford Education Service Ltd would like to give some advice to all students for preventing Cyber bullying. It includes:
Privacy settings- To make sure privacy settings are enabled on the pupil’s devices and apps to give them more protection online.
Do not talk to the stranger online - To make sure that the pupils are only accepting friend requests or speaking to the person that they know and trust.
Downloading files.- Never download files from unknown sources and make sure they ask for the adult's permission before they try to download something.
Knowledge-To give the pupils some basic knowledge to make sure they know what to do if they’re being bullied or feel threatened when they are online, e.g., report to their parents/ teachers or guardians.
Speak to someone- Make sure the pupils know who they can talk to, e.g.,parents/ teachers/ guardians about cyber bullying or if they are unsure about something online.
Procedures
If a student approaches a member of our staff or we are notified by parents that a student is a victim of cyber bullying. We will handle the concern sensitively and speak to the student and report to the school. If necessary, we will contact the Police and Social Service.
We will take seriously and investigate any bullying or cyber-bullying concerns that are reported to us:
Students will be made aware that they can talk to their parents, teachers, homestay, or a member of Oxford Education and Services staff about any bullying concerns they may have;
Oxford Education and Services staff member may receive are port of suspected online abuse from a student, parent or other source by face to face disclosure, email or telephone call. This disclosure will be recorded in writing by the member of staff (using the ‘Tell Explain Describe’ model if the information is being given by a student);
Any concerns raised by a student, parent, homestay, member of staff or other source will be reported within 24 hours to Dr. Iling Lee.The written record (see above) must be submitted at this time;
The DSL will hold an emergency strategy meeting to discuss the incident, assess the alleged threat and risk to the student (including any relevant facts about the child which may affect their vulnerability including age and ability), implement an action plan and continue to review the situation until a resolution has been achieved. Written notes will be kept securely of this meeting by the DSL;
Any concerns that bullying (including cyber-bullying) has taken place at a student’s school will be referred to the teacher concerned;
If the alleged bullying incident involves a member of the homestay family, or another student staying at the homestay, the Oxford Education and Services will investigate fully as outlined above and if necessary find alternative accommodation for the student;
In most cases parents will be kept informed about the situation and the actions that the Oxford Education and Services is taking unless there is good reason to believe that involving these parties would put the young person at risk of harm;
We will support the victim and the perpetrator (if they area student in our care) and monitor students well-being following a bullying incident for as long as necessary;
Where there is‘reasonable cause to suspect that a child is suffering, or likely to suffer,significant harm’ due to bullying, we will refer the matter to local agencies;
Please note that strong sanctions such as termination of our contract may be necessary in cases of severe and persistent bullying;
Full records will be kept of any bullying concerns and of any actions taken. These will be held confidentially by Dr. Iling Lee.
In the case of cyber-bullying support for the student could include helping them to understand how to recognise the early signs of online abuse, the wider issues and motivations of online abuse and making available relevant information and material. This help and support could be provided by accredited organisations such as the school, National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), Child Line and National Crime Agency(NCA) – Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) websites and helplines;
The DSL will ensure that viewing of the images or other content is only made where there are good and clear reasons to do so (unless unavoidable because the student has willingly shown a member of staff), basing incident decisions on what the DSL has been told about the content of the imagery or other content. The DSL will ensure that staff members do not search through devices and delete imagery unless there is a good and clear reason to do so;
The DSL will consider the need to ask for the student to produce the device as evidence. The viewing of any images, other content or seizing of any devices will be recorded including those present, date and time;
The incident will be referred to a statutory agency(Children’s Services on the Local Authority telephone number or the police by dialling 101) immediately if there is a concern a young person has been harmed or is at immediate risk of harm (telephone the police by dialling 999).
Where the DSL is aware that youth produced sexual imagery or other content has been unavoidably viewed by a member of staff, the DSL should ensure that the staff member has appropriate support. Viewing youth produced sexual imagery or other content can be distressing for both young people and adults and appropriate emotional support may be required;
Where police action has been instigated for an incident involving a member of staff or volunteer, Oxford Education and Services internal procedures will take place at the conclusion of the police action. A suspension will be likely to take place before the internal procedures begin.
Related policies and procedures
This policy statement should be read alongside our organisational policies and procedures including:
Child protection/safeguarding policy
Code of conduct for staff and Host Family Handbook
Student behaviour code of conduct
Review
We are committed to reviewing our policy and good practice annually.
This policy was last reviewed on: …05/ Dec/2020…………………………(date)
Signed: …. …
…………………………………………………
Date: ……05/12/2020……………………………………………………………………