Policy Aims & Vision

Our Philosophy

We are guided by the philosophy that:

• A child’s education is the single most important consideration for any
  parent or carer.
•   At Noor 367, we believe that it is an individual’s total educational experience that instils the knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and values that they will carry with them for life.
• We believe that this set of knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and values, instilled by education, will form the basis of how we approach the future.

Noor 367 believes that these are the foundations on which we build and plan our lives. We welcome students with varied plans, including attending university, or college, obtaining an apprenticeship, or going into the workplace. Being part of Noor367 allows us to cater for our rich and varied student community through an inclusive and positive approach that maintains high expectations of all our students with their aspirations.

Our vision and aims

We welcome students with a variety of prior education experiences and with varied aims. This is fundamental to what we do – our vision is to be a flexible home for all students and so we seek to offer a curriculum and experience that allows students to pursue learning interests, fits around other priorities and gives them the structure needed to work towards their goals. We seek to create the conditions for this – a purposeful learning environment, the ability to focus and challenge oneself and a sense of safety and value for every child.

We have core aims that underpin this vision. They are to:

1. provide a high-quality, positive, and inclusive learning experience and environment that inspires all students to discover, develop and fulfil their potential and make outstanding progress in their learning whatever their starting point.
2. promote desirable behaviour, a culture of mutual respect, and maximum engagement in learning through our actions and wider culture.
3. recognise the successes and development of each student , be it social, emotional, academic, or otherwise, that develops self -esteem, and respect for self and others.

There are some broader themes to our vision that are worth detailing:

Participation: We believe educational success comes from students actively participating in learning through attending live classes or using lesson recordings and resources actively; submitting set work; engaging with their peers or just following feedback to improve. As a school we set conditions for our staff and students to be reflective on their efforts and act with integrity, building a culture of improvement and contribution to the community that ultimately makes everyone’s impact on the world a posit ive one.

Holistic development: In a rapidly evolving digital world, we take seriously the holistic development of our students and aim to equip students with the tools and attitudes to navigate technology and global relationships positively. We have robust actions in place to keep the school free from more negative instances that might occur in other settings such as bullying or disruption.

Inclusivity and flexibility: We are inclusive, and we want every child, regardless of additional needs, to be the best version of themselves through the support of our flexible schooling and adaptive teaching.

Introduction

We believe bullying in all its forms is absolutely unacceptable. It harms the social and emotional well -being as well as personal development of students and so it will never be tolerated. We take all incidents where bullying is reported seriously, investigating, and responding appropriately. In all cases we make it clear that we will not accept the intentional harming of others, we will put in place consequences and actions to prevent bullying from occurring again as well as support parents, carers and mentors to help children respond to bullying. 

Education settings are responsible for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. Robust anti-bullying practices are part of this duty to ensure all children can learn and thrive free from abuse from adults or other children. This policy should be read in conjunction with our Behaviour Policy, Curriculum and Assessment Policy and Keeping Children Safe in Education which outlines and underpins our approach to managing student conduct and promoting welfare. We also use the advice of other professional organisations working with young people to inform our approach. Finally, our policy has been developed with reference to statutory advice for schools .

Aims

Students deserve to feel safe and secure at home and online and indeed many choose Noor367 because of challenging experiences in previous schools with peers. Moreover, students who are being bullied are unlikely to concentrate fully on their schoolwork and can be impacted negatively in the long term. This policy demonstrates how we ensure all students can be confident in learning without being subject to bullying.

Our policies seek to underpin our practices so that they help us to fulfil our values – individuality, potential, respect, kindness, curiosity, and flexibility.

In practical terms , this policy aims to :

•     demonstrate that the school takes bullying seriously and that it will not be tolerated;
• set out measures to prevent all forms of bullying in the school and, where relevant, outside of school that impact our students;
•     support students in helping them keep themselves and others safe from bullying ;
• support everyone in the actions taken to identify and protect those who might be bullied; and
•     ensure that incidents of bullying are dealt with through the Behaviour Policy.

Definitions

Bullying is defined as the repetitive, intentional harming of one person or group by another person or group, often where the relationship involves an imbalance of power. It is most often designed to threaten another person or group of people and is usuall y unprovoked and persistent. Bullying behaviour can be classed as such even if the bully does not realise that their behaviour is deemed to be bullying. Bullying is, therefore:

•     Deliberately hurtful and harmful
•     Targeted at an individual or group
•     Repeated, often over a period of time
•     Difficult to defend against

Bullying can include:

•     Emotional: Being unfriendly, excluding, tormenting others
•     Cyber-bullying: Bullying or harassment that takes place online, such as through     social networking sites, messaging apps, chat rooms or gaming sites
•     Direct or indirect verbal: Name-calling, taunting, sarcasm, spreading rumours, teasing, ridicule, and shunning
•     Physical: Hitting, kicking, pushing, taking another’s belongings, any use of violence, causing injury, damage to another’s property
•     Racial: Racial taunts, graffiti, gestures
•     Sexual: Explicit sexual remarks, display or sharing of sexual material, sexual gestures, unwanted physical attention, comments about sexual reputation or performance, or inappropriate touching
•     Other discriminatory: any discriminatory comments relating to aspects of someone’s identity, including homophobia and sexism

Prevention

Bullying and abuse will never be tolerated or passed off as ‘a joke’, ‘part of growing up’ or any similar reasoning. We encourage students to be routinely alert themselves to any potential incidences of bullying and be alert to the fact that an individual’s words or actions can have a detrimental effect on other students.

This involves students knowing how inappropriate words and actions may affect a young person in their context. It also involved our staff consistently promoting our school values, particularly respect, individuality, and kindness so that they appear the norm. This message is routinely taught and reinforced through:

• Tutor sessions that guide students on how to respond as a possible victim, witness, or bystander, encouraging students to speak up.
• Assemblies that project our inclusive values, promote campaigns like anti-bullying week and guide students on the correct responses.
• Lessons, including PSHE, and other areas of the curriculum where difference is celebrated and constructive relationships and communication are modelled and discussed (e.g. English, history, languages)
•       Marketing events that make our values clear to all prospective families.
• Incidental interactions with staff that model our values of respect, and kindness and champion individuality.
• Empowering student leadership, such as the student council or reps, to champion inclusion and make it clear bullying is not accepted by peers.
• Student voice to gather feedback from students on issues such as welfare and bullying.
• Responses to incidents – consequences, restorative work, applying the behaviour policy.
• Our policies and inductions , including our student code of conduct, student induction, and induction to tools.
•       Student hub notices and signposting.
• Advising parents and mentors on how to protect their children through monitoring their online activity, inviting open dialogue, and giving advice.

Reporting

We encourage students to help keep themselves and those around them safe by being alert and by promptly reporting any issues through the channels available to them. We work to ensure students know how to and feel able to report by:

• Making sure students know that bullying can be reported to any member of staff, either as a victim or witness .
• That there are key staff in the school who will investigate any allegations of bullying and support them. 
• Making sure students and parents/carers/mentors know how to contact staff via the student hub, email, during pastoral sessions, and using classroom communication tools.
• Signposting support within and beyond school for students with social, emotional, and personal challenges .
• Training all staff to be aware of bullying and alert to associated safeguarding issues as well as how to respond to them. In addition, we ensure staff are able to monitor concerns related to bullying and know how to escalate concerns.
• Having a clear policy and resources that state our organisation’s position on bullying and our expectations of members of the school community not supporting or encouraging bullying and reporting it to adults.

Recording

The school records all known examples of bullying and prejudiced -based incidents and puts in place strategies for individual students to prevent further incidents from occurring. This will include sanctions alongside instruction to signal that this behaviour is unacceptable.

The school will seek to support students and their parents to identify underlying causes and change underlying thinking that leads to bullying.

As per the Behaviour Policy, it may lead to students not being able to continue at Noor367, teachers will gather evidence and report any bullying to mentors. The students will be encouraged by Noor367 teachers and the assigned tutors to adapt their behaviour in accordance with the behavioural expectations outlined in the Behaviour Policy. Failure to comply could result in their not being able to attend Noor367 lessons any longer.

Responses

We work with students to promote positive relationships, identify, and tackle ullying (including cyber -bullying) appropriately. This starts with preventative action and includes our responses to bullying when it occurs. As per our Behaviour Policy we also include incidents and behaviour that occur outside of school:

‘Where an incident is reported of a student’s poor behaviour beyond the school day, on non-school platforms or not witnessed by school staff, the school will take an evidence – based approach before identifying further action. The approaches and actions outlined in this Behaviour Policy above will still apply.’

The response will depend on the nature of the incident, but bullying is deemed a stage 4 issue in our Behaviour Policy and as such each incident would be fully investigated with parents/carers/mentors involved to correct the student’s behaviour. Students who engage in bullying-type behaviour should expect serious consequences. These can range from a class move, a behaviour plan and final warnings to a change in status (non -live learner) or exclusion. In some instances, especially those with serious impact, we will report to the police and other relevant services. Where a student engages in repeated incidents of bullying their school place will be reviewed and exclusion will be fully considered to protect other members of our school community.

Where appropriate, the school will work with the individual engaged in bullying to change their behaviour through restorative and educative action. We will also be clear in our advice to parents/carers/mentors to support them in changing their child’s conduct and may involve other agencies. Should a student remain in school, both the restorative work and parent/mentor involvement will support students to amend their behaviour and understand its impact on others.

For victims, the school will investigate promptly and communicate effectively with the home, supporting the victims by discussing what they think they need to feel secure and confident in school. This may include:

• Reassuring the student and providing pastoral support.
• Offering an immediate opportunity to discuss the experience with their teacher, the DSL, or a pastoral member of staff (at Noor367).
• Victims of bullying will be counselled by teachers or a DSL or their mentors with further support signposted to them (at Noor367).
• Being advised to keep a record of the bullying as evidence and discuss how to respond to concerns and build resilience as appropriate.
• Working towards restoring self -esteem and confidence through diversionary activity, praise, and support from staff .
• Signposting support services and advising parents/mentors on how to support at home, including supporting their use of social media.
• Adjusting classes or timetables for themselves or the individual bullying.
• Being clear about the actions taken against those bullying in school, although not revealing inappropriate specific details.

Please see the Behaviour Policy for more details on the responses to behaviour incidents.

Appendices

Appendix 1 – Examples of Prejudice-based Bullying

Age

When unwanted conduct related to age has the purpose or effect of violating an individual’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for that individual

Asylum Seekers & Refugees

Children and young people who are asylum seekers or refugees may be at greater risk of bullying behaviour directly and indirectly. Stigma, due to a lack of knowledge and understanding of asylum seekers and refugees, and reluctance to burden parents with extra worries can allow bullying behaviour to go undetected and be ongoing.

Body Image & Physical Appearance

This can be hugely important to children and young people as it has the potential to negatively impact their wellbeing.

Disablist Bullying

People who display bullying behaviour towards others may see children and young people with disabilities as being less able to defend themselves and less able to tell an adult about the bullying behaviour. The bullying behaviour is likely to be focused upon their specific disability or disabilities.

Travellers

This group of children and young people are a particularly discriminated against and marginalised group and concerns about bullying behaviour are especially acute for secondary school students. Perceived risks about bullying behaviour and parents’ own experiences of discriminatory behaviour may lead to low levels of engagement and poor attendance for Gypsy/Traveller children and young people as well as an early exit from formal education. Other Traveller families, such as Roma, may have similar concerns.

Gender Identity & Transphobic Bullying

The term ‘transgender’ is an umbrella term for those whose ‘gender identity’ or expression differs in some way from the gender that was assigned to them at birth. Gender identity reflects an individual’s internal sense of self as being male, female, or an identity between or outside the two. Transgender people face significant societal prejudice largely because they are perceived as not conforming to gender stereotypes, expectations, and norms. As a result, transgender, or gender-variant children and young people can be particularly vulnerable to bullying behaviour. This can manifest in many ways including transphobic and homophobic name-calling or deliberately misgendering or dead-naming them An individual may also experience transphobic bullying behaviours as a result of a perception that a parent, relative or other significant figure is transgender. As a school, focussing on a student-centred approach, we believe that a young person has the right to identify as they wish, using the pronouns expressed. The well-being and mental health of our students is of paramount importance to us as is creating a safe space, where our students feel included, to progress with their learning and education.

Intersectionality

Understanding the different and unequal social and economic outcomes for particular groups, based on interactions between race, class, gender, sexual orientation, disability, age, and ethnicity. In the context of anti -bullying, it is important to understand the connection between the experience of belonging to one or more of these groups and people’s prejudice towards them can lead to inequality in attainment and well-being.

Looked After Children & Young People

Children and young people who are looked after at home or looked after and accommodated are vulnerable to bullying behaviour for several reasons. It may be due to regular changes in schools or where they are placed, which can make forming friendships difficult. Forming relationships with peers and adults can be more difficult due to their early childhood adversity.

Marriage/Civil Partnership

Whilst it is unlikely that a school -aged student will be in a same-sex marriage or civil partnership and directly experience prejudice and discrimination as a result, there could be instances of indirect discrimination, for example, if the child or young person is associated with someone (parent, sibling, etc) who is in a same-sex marriage or civil partnership or in a same-sex relationship. Marriage and civil partnership discrimination and prejudice can also affect children and young people in a variety of other settings, for example, in workplaces, further and higher educati on and in wider society.

Racial Bullying

Children and young people from minority ethnic groups often experience bullying behaviour based on perceived differences in dress, communication, appearance, beliefs and/or culture as well as their skin colour and accent. The status of the ethnic group a child belongs to (or people assume they belong to) in a school, community or organisation can often lead to a child or young person experiencing bullying behaviour. This can arise from a misguided and/or learned belief that they are less valued and ‘deserve ’ to be treated differently, or with less respect.

Religion & Belief

Lack of knowledge and understanding about the traditions, beliefs and etiquette of different faiths can lead to religious intolerance. Lack of awareness about the differences in practices of religions such as prayer times, dietary requirements, fasting and the wearing of religious clothing or articles of faith can result in misunderstandings and stereotyping, which may lead to bullying behaviour. People who have no religion or belief are also protected under the Equality Act.

Sectarianism

Sectarianism is sometimes associated with religion. The reality of prejudice, however, means that your family background, the football team you support, the community you live in, the school you attend and even the colour of your clothing can mark you out for sectarian abuse – whatever your beliefs may be. In Scotland, sectarianism is most often related to Protestant and Roman Catholic divisions within Christianity but can also relate to other religions, for example , Sunni and Shia Muslims within Islam, and Orthodox and Reform Jews within Judaism.

Sexism & Gender

Bullying behaviour in the form of derogatory language and the spreading of malicious rumours can be used to regulate both girls’ and boys’ behaviour – suggesting that they are not real men or real women. These terms can be of an explicit sexual nature, and it is worth noting that many can involve using terms for people who are gay and lesbian as a negative towards a person’s masculinity or femininity. Sexism and gender stereotypes feed into homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia. Gender stereotyping, based o n the notion of acceptable and unacceptable male and female behaviour, can leave children and young people who are not perceived to conform to these notions vulnerable to indirect and direct bullying behaviour. Personality traits that do not fit into the unwritten rules of ‘appropriate’ male and female behaviour can lead to bullying behaviour because of the prejudice towards their perceived difference.

Sexual Orientation & Homophobic Bullying

Bullying behaviour based on sexual orientation is motivated by a prejudice against lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB) people. It is also commonly referred to as ‘homophobic bullying’ but can also be expanded to recognise the specific experiences of bisexual yo ung people using the term ‘biphobic bullying’. Children and young people do not necessarily have to be gay, lesbian, or bisexual themselves to experience ‘homophobic bullying’. This type of bullying behaviour may be directed towards young people perceived to be lesbian, gay or bisexual young people; those who do not conform to gender norms and/or expectations; and those who have gay friends or family. Children with LGB parents may also experience homophobic bullying behaviour. Although homophobic bullying behaviour is distinct from sexist and transphobic bullying behaviour, it is related to these forms of bullying behaviour through underlying sexist attitudes.

Special Education Needs

An additional support need can arise for any reason and be of short- or long-term duration. Additional support may be required to overcome needs arising from the learning environment; health or disability; family circumstances or social and emotional factors. A child or young person may be bullied because they have an additional support need and crucially being bullied can also lead to an additional support need.

Young Carers

The lives of young carers can be significantly affected by their responsibility to care for a family member who has a physical illness or disability, mental health problem, sensory or learning disability or issues with the misuse of drugs or alcohol. Young carers are at risk of bullying behaviour for a variety of reasons. Depending on responsibilities at home, they may find themselves being unable to fully participate in school or after -school activities or ‘fun stuff’. This can make it difficult for them t o form relationships; it can hinder successful transitions or lead to educational difficulties.

Socio-economic Prejudice

Bullying behaviour due to socio -economic status can take place in any community. Small differences in perceived family income/family living arrangements/social circumstances or values can be used as a basis for bullying behaviours. These behaviours, such a s mocking speech patterns, accents, belongings, clothing, etc. can become widespread among those considering themselves to be in the dominant social economic group. Bullying behaviour towards children who endure parental substance misuse can also be preval ent.

Appendix 2 – Information for Staff

Noor367 advocates for a culture that encourages respect, values opinions, celebrates differences and promotes positive relationships, which makes it more difficult for bullying behaviour to flourish or be tolerated. Open discussions, at Noor367, about bullying behaviour will dispel myths that bullying behaviour is inevitable or is an acceptable part of growing up.

Bullying behaviour is never acceptable.

Noor367 seeks to prevent bullying behaviour by implementing effective strategies which support the principles of the Anti -Bullying Policy; strategies that engage young people, parents and staff in their design, development, implementation, and review.

In line with the guidance from the UK Government, we define bullying as behaviour by an individual or group, repeated over time, that intentionally hurts another individual or group either physically or emotionally. Bullying behaviour can harm people physically and/or emotionally and, although the actual behaviour may not be repeated over time, the threat may be sustained over time, typically by actions: electronic messages and communications, any confrontations, and the fear of these. Bullying is both behaviour and its impact on the individual affected.

Prevention & Raising Awareness

The following suggestions offer a wide range of activities and approaches which can be developed and implemented to raise awareness and prevent bullying behaviours, as well as highlighting respectful relationships throughout the Noor367 community:

• Curricular activities (reading/writing stories/poems, drawing pictures, having debates, participating in role-plays)

• Poster campaigns (class pages/social media/assembly) i.e. National Online Safety
• Specific information regarding prejudice -based bullying and equality
• Policy information in school handbooks
• Diversity weeks and equalities campaigns
• National Anti-Bullying Week
• Guest speakers
•  Themed assemblies
•  Form time (Secondary)
•  Buddying/mentoring
•  Parent information (highlighted in open evenings/on the school website)
•  Prominent display of school values through the school platforms
•  Students are aware of classroom rules, and these are displayed on class pages
• Having discussions about bullying behaviour and positive behaviour
• Working with anti-bullying services and campaigns

Creating a Culture of Respect and Openness

Identifying a child or young person who is experiencing bullying behaviour is challenging. Noor367 is committed to continuing an atmosphere of openness and reporting. This can be done and maintained by:

• Publicising reporting procedures for all members of the Noor367 community
• Teachers raising the issue of bullying in classes and during group work discussions
• Heads of House/Form tutors raising the issue and facilitating discussions   in Reflect classes/Form time
• Creating opportunities for confidential communications by children and
  young people, where appropriate
• Challenging the position that there can be innocent, neutral bystanders in this issue
• Using national examples/case studies to channel children and young people’s natural sympathy for those at the receiving end of bullying behaviour

Possible Evidence of Bullying Behaviour and Intervention

A young person may indicate by signs or behaviour that they are at the receiving end of bullying behaviour. Adults should be aware of the possible signs and they should investigate and report if a young person presents the following behaviour; however, it is important to note that the presentation of such behaviour may be for many other reasons:

•       Afraid to attend live lessons, activities, and extracurricular groups
•       Changes to the young person’s usual routines
•       Begins to refuse to attend live lessons
•       Becomes anxious, withdrawn or lacks confidence
•       Attempts or threatens suicide or runs away
•       Cries themselves to sleep at night or have nightmares
•       Feels ill in the morning
•       Begins to do poorly in schoolwork
•       Has unexplained cuts, scratches, or bruises
•       Becomes aggressive, disruptive, ill-tempered, or unreasonable
•       Displays bullying behaviour towards other children or siblings
•       Stops eating
•       Is afraid to say what is wrong
•       Provided improbable excuses for any of the above points
•       Is afraid to use the internet or mobile phone
•       Is nervous and jumpy when messages/communications are received

Potential Impact of Bullying Behaviour

Being at the receiving end of bullying behaviour can have both long -term and short-term effects on an individual’s physical, emotional, or mental health and well -being. This can be traumatic for the individual and therefore lead to a range of coping mechanisms and other reactive behaviours:

1. Anticipation of bullying behaviour: For those who have been at the receiving end of bullying behaviour, the fear and anticipation of further incidents can affect a person’s ability to be themselves and healthily interact with others .
2. School attendance: Missing school or truanting regularly can impact levels of attainment.
3. Eating disorders: Problems with food begin when it is used to cope in
   times of difficulty. Interpersonal factors or those that involve other individuals and society at large, seem to play a role in influencing the development of, and recovery from, eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorder.
4. Low aspirations: A constant stream of negative, destructive comments can and do drive people down and they effectively lower or change their aspirations to fit in or start to see themselves as people with low worth – nothing meaningful to contribute and zero confidence. This contributes significantly to social exclusion and can result in the inability to foster and maintain healthy relationships.
5. Depression: Bullying behaviour can make it hard to attend school, go to
   work, go to clubs, get out of bed in the morning, talk to parents, to tell
   friends, so the individual turns inwards to deal with it and this becomes a
   mental health issue.
6.   Violence towards others: It can lead to the recipient having an explosive    outburst which in turn can lead to acts of violence with severe consequences.
7. Self-Harm: Bullying behaviour can cause negative thoughts which can affect mental health which, in the most extreme cases, can result in thoughts of self-harm and suicide.
8. Displaying bullying behaviours: This behaviour could be learned from the individual either having been at the receiving end of bullying behaviour previously or having witnessed it. This is why role modelling is so important – young people who grow up hearing how parents act towards others can impact how young people behave towards others.

    

Supporting Children/Young People Directly Involved in Incidents of Bullying

Supporting a child/young person reporting an incident:

• Remain calm and keep an open mind, your response is vitally important
• Listen – give the child your full attention and if not immediately possible let the child/young person know what they have to say to you is important. Arrange a time that is convenient for both parties to ensure full attention can be paid. All face -to-face interactions must be recorded
• Assure the child/young person that bullying behaviour is never acceptable; they deserve to feel safe in their environment and that it has taken great courage from them to come forward and talk about the situation
• Show the child/young person that you believe them and that you are taking them seriously
• Gently encourage them to talk/type, finding out what happened, who was involved, where and when (writing it down if helpful)
• Let the child/young person speak/type without interruption as far as possible but do not be afraid to ask questions when they have finished
• Listen – what does the child/young person want you to do?
• Keep the child/young person involved and up -to-date on progress

Supporting a child/young person displaying bullying behaviour:

• Listen and take time to help the child/young person explore/consider any underlying reason for the bullying behaviour.
• Do not label the individual or group as a ‘bully’ or ‘bullies’. Name the behaviour
• Challenge the behaviour in the same way as you would with any type of challenging behaviour
• Be prepared to address prejudicial attitudes that may be behind the bullying behaviour
• Address what’s happening behind the behaviour, even when the bullying
  behaviour has stopped

Strategies & Approaches to Help

A variety of strategies and activities can be applied to situations, as appropriate to talk about, investigate and tackle bullying behaviours :

•       Restorative practice
•       Peer mediation
•       Buddy system
•       Nurture groups
•       Anger management groups
•       Anxiety management groups
•       Mentoring
•       Citizenship group
•       Health and Well-being groups
•       Assemblies
•       Reflect classes
•       Extra-curricular clubs/groups

Appendix 3 – Further Sources of Information

The following organisations provide support for schools and parents dealing with specific bullying issues including the social, mental or emotional effects caused by bullying.

The Anti-Bullying Alliance ( ABA) : founded in 2002 by NSPCC and the National Children’s Bureau, the Anti-Bullying Alliance ABA) brings together over 100 organisations into one network to develop and share good practices across the whole range of bullying issues.

The ABA has also put together a fact sheet outlining the range of support that is available to schools and young people from the anti-bullying sector which can be accessed  here.

The Diana Award : anti-bullying Ambassadors programme to empower young people to take responsibility for changing the attitudes and behaviour of their peers towards bullying. It will achieve this by identifying, training, and supporting school anti -bullying ambassadors.

Kidscape: a charity established to prevent bullying and promote child protection, providing advice for young people, professionals, and parents about different types of bullying and how to tackle it. They also offer specialist training and support for school staff, and assertiveness training for young people.

The BIG Award: the Bullying Intervention Group (BIG) offers a national scheme and award for schools to tackle bullying effectively.

Restorative Justice Council: included best practice guidance for practitioners 2011.

Cyber-bullying & Online Safety

ChildNet International : specialist resources for young people to raise awareness of online safety and how to protect themselves. The website specifically includes new  cyberbullying guidance and a practical PSHE toolkit for schools.

Digizen: provides online safety information for educators, parents, carers and young people.

Internet Matters: provides help to keep children safe in the digital world.

Think U Know: resources provided by Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) for children and young people, parents, carers and teachers.

The UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) has produced a range of resources for schools, colleges and parents about how to keep children safe online, this includes advice for schools and colleges on responding to incidents of ‘sexting.

LGBT

Barnardos: through its LGBTQ Hub, offers guidance to young people, parents and teachers on how to support LGBT students and tackle LGBT prejudice -based bullying

EACH: (Educational Action Challenging Homophobia): provides a national freephone Actionline for targets of homophobic or transphobic bullying and training to schools on sexual orientation, gender identity matters and cyber-homophobia.

Metro Charity : equality and diversity charity, providing health, community and youth services across London, the South East, and national and international projects. Metro works with anyone experiencing issues related to gender, sexuality, diversity, or identity. 

Proud Trust : helps young people empower themselves to make a positive change for themselves and their communities through youth groups, peer support, delivering training and events, campaigns, undertaking research and creating resources.

Schoo ls Out: offers practical advice, resources (including lesson plans) and training to schools on LGBT equality in education.

Stonewall: an LGB equality organisation with considerable expertise in LGB bullying in schools, a dedicated youth site, resources for schools, and specialist training for teachers.

SEND

Mencap: represents people with learning disabilities, with specific advice and information for people who work with children and young people.

Changing Faces : provides online resources and training to schools on bullying because of physical differences.

Cyber bullying and children and young people with SEN and disabilities : advice provided by the Anti-Bullying Alliance on developing effective anti -bullying practice.

Anti- bullying Alliance SEND programme of resources: advice provided by the Anti -bullying

Alliance for school staff and parents on issues related to SEND and bullying.

Information, Advice and Support Service Network : every local area has an information, advice and support service, that provides information, advice and support to disabled children and young people, those with SEN, and their parents.

Mental Health

Mind Ed: provides a free online training tool for adults that is also available to schools. It can be used to help school staff learn more about children and young people’s mental health problems. It provides simple, clear guidance on mental health and includes information on identifying, understanding, and supporting children who are bullied.

PSHE Association –  guidance and lesson plans on improving the teaching of mental health issues

Young Minds – for young people and also has a chat function for parents/carers.

Race, Religion & Nationality

Anne Frank Trust: runs a school project to teach young people about Anne Frank and the Holocaust, the consequences of unchecked prejudice and discrimination, and cultural diversity.

Educate Against Hate : provides teachers, parents and school leaders practical advice and information on protecting children from extremism and radicalisation.

Show Racism the Red Card : provides resources and workshops for schools to educate young people, often using the high profile of football, about racism.

Kick It Out: uses the appeal of football to educate young people about racism and prov ide education packs for schools.

Tell MAMA: Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks (MAMA) allows people from across England to report any form of Anti -Muslim abuse, MAMA can also refer victims for support through partner agencies.

Anti- Muslim Hatred Work in g Group : independent members of this group are representatives from the Muslim community and will assist and advise on all relevant issues.

Sexual Harassment & Sexual Bullying

Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (EVAW):  A Guide for Schools .  This guide from the End Violence Against Women Coalition sets out the different forms of abuse to support education staff to understand violence and abuse of girls, warning signs to look for, and how to get your whole school working towards preventing abu se.

Disrespect NoBody : A Home Office-led campaign which helps young people understand what a healthy relationship is. This website includes teaching materials to be used in the classroom.

Anti- bullying Alliance: advice for school staff and professionals about developing effective anti-bullying practice in relation to sexual bullying.

Body Image, Eating Disorders & Disordered Eating

Body image issues can affect people of all ages and genders. Body image describes how a person feels about their own body and appearance. It includes how people see themselves, how they think and feel about how they look and how they think others see them. Our body image often affects the way we treat our body. Persistent concerns about body image can hold someone back from engaging fully with other aspects of their life. How people feel about their bodies is strongly linked to our overall well-being.

Around  1.25 million people in the UK suffer from these illnesses, many in secret. They are of all ages, genders, and backgrounds – eating disorders do not discriminate. Eating disorders include bulimia, binge eating disorder, avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID), other specified feeding or eating disorder (OSFED), and anorexia, which tragically has the highest mortality rate of any mental illness, though all eating disorders can be deadly. While this is the worst-case scenario, there are many ways in which eating disorders severely affect the quality of life of both those suffering and those who care about them. They can dominate childhoods, and can negatively impact relationships and families. We recognise that, with the right treatment and support, recovery is possible.

Beat UK can support young people who are experiencing eating disorders or disordered eating.