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Bullying and Child-on-Child Abuse

Bullying and child on child abuse can happen in every school but is rare at The Sir Robert Woodard Academy.

We aim to educate our students about the impact of bullying and attempt to reduce instances as much as possible through various means. A copy of the Academy’s anti-bullying policy can be found on our website here and should be visited for more detail.

What is bullying?

Bullying is defined as the repetitive, intentional harming of one person or group by another person or group, where the relationship involves an imbalance of power. Bullying is, therefore: deliberately hurtful; repeated, often over a period of time; difficult to defend against. The term bullying is therefore not appropriate when describing one off incidents, accidents, incidents without intent or friendship fallouts. Child-on-Child Abuse is defined as a serious form of bullying (abuse) between persons of a similar age and as such has wider safeguarding implications.

What to do if you think bullying is taking place?

Finding out that someone you know and care about is experiencing bullying can be very upsetting however the most important thing to do if you suspect bullying is happening is to remain calm and to tell someone. The Academy cannot help stop bullying if it does not know about it. Students, Parents, staff or members of the public should report incidents of peer abuse and/or bullying to the child’s Year Group Team (Tutor, Pastoral Support Officer (PSO) or Head Of Year either in person, by phone or by email..

How SRWA deals with bullying

SRWA has robust procedures in place to investigate any alleged incidents of bullying in line with the Academy Behaviour Policy and Anti-Bullying Policy, where full details can be found.
We also have a peer to peer support group who are trained to support other young people to deal with challenges they may be facing including the impact of bullying. Students can contact the group at face2face@srwa.co.uk.
In addition, the Academy’s SMSC and PSHE programmes routinely address issues relating to bullying, coercion and keeping safe online throughout the year.

Safeguarding and Child Protection

All bullying incidents that may have a safeguarding implication are referred to the DSL in line with the Child Protection Policy, also available on the Academy website.