Advising parents and carers who are concerned that their child is
being bullied in school.
Bullying is not always easy to define. It can take a number of
forms including:
- emotional (ignoring, tormenting by hiding books)
- physical (pushing, kicking)
- racist (name calling, discrimination)
- sexual (unwanted physical contact, abusive comments)
- verbal (name calling, persistent teasing, sarcasm).
If you are worried your child is being bullied, ask him or her
directly. Children who are being bullied may be frightened to admit
anything is wrong so be prepared for this. If the bullying is
happening in school make contact with the school straight away.
Start with your child’s class or form teacher, or head of year. All
schools have anti-bullying policies and they are increasingly
involving parents and pupils in developing them. Many schools have
peer mentoring or buddying schemes to help pupils will all kinds of
problems. Bullying is always taken very seriously.
In Suffolk, leaflets have been issued to all pupils on bullying
with sections in each leaflet written for parents, carers, school
staff and pupils.
There is also a range of advice to help you and your child deal
with bullying. Kidscape has a useful booklet called Preventing
bullying! A Parents' Guide.
Email the
Parent Partnership Service
Kidscape -
helping to prevent bullying and child
abuse | | |