Bullying in Bromley:The views of Bromley’s children and young people

Michael WattsSenior Partnerships and Planning Officer

London Borough of Bromley

18 June 2012

Background

• In 2010 we asked schools how we could best understand the views of children and young people in Bromley

• We agreed that we would ask School Councils

• Our first Student Survey was sent out in November 2011

• It asked School Councils to consider questions relating to bullying to coincide with Anti-Bullying Week

• We will use the responses from the survey to:

– better understand how many children and young people are being bullied in Bromley

– learn more about how and where children and young people are being bullied

– identify what further actions may need to be taken

Profile of responses (1 of 2)

• In total we had responses from 9 schools (10%) as well as a response from the Bromley Youth Council

• The profile of schools which responded was:

0 1 2 3 4 5 6

Infant

Junior

Primary

Secondary

Special

Not stated

Profile of responses (2 of 2)

• The style of responses from the schools varied as follows:

– collated feedback from the School Council members

– individual feedback from each member of the School Council

– individual feedback from more than 200 pupils across the whole school

– collated feedback from each individual class across the whole school

• The total responses to the survey (including responses from the schools and Bromley Youth Council) was approximately 635 children and young people across the Borough

About bullying in Bromley schools (1 of 3)

Question: Is bullying a particular problem within your school?

• The majority of the responses indicated that bullying is not a particular problem in Bromley schools

• However, a significant number of children and young people indicated that bullying is a particular problem, with the following types of bullying being the greatest issue:

– verbal bullying, like being called names or having lies told about you

– physical bullying, like being hit, pushed or threatened

– cyber bullying, like being called names, threatened or having lies told about you on the computer, Facebook or phone

• A further significant number of children and young people were not sure if bullying was a particular problem

• Secondary aged pupils stated that bullying in schools is a more of problem than primary aged pupils

About bullying in Bromley schools (2 of 3)

Question: Do you know about your school’s anti-bullying policy?

• The majority of the respondees indicated that they know about their school’s anti-bullying policy

• However, a significant number did not know or were not sure about their school’s anti-bullying policy

Question: Do you think what your school does about bullying is working?

• The responses indicate that children and young people have differing views about whether what their school does about bullying is working with the responses nearly equally split between “yes”, “in some ways” and “no” 

About bullying in Bromley schools (3 of 3)

Question: What else do you think your school could do to stop bullying?

• A number of different responses were suggested as other things that the school could do to stop bullying

• However, the following areas were the most common responses:

Stricter punishments for children and young people who bully

Talk about bullying more, including increasing the number of anti-bullying signs and posters, workshops, promotional periods, and pupil surveys

Increase surveillance of areas where bullying is common, including the use of cameras and more teachers on patrol

Enhance the support systems in place for children and young people who are bullied, including greater use of a “bullying box”, “listening ear” and “playground buddies”

Nothing - the schools is doing all it can

About bullying outside of school

Question: Do you think that bullying is a particular problem outside of your

school?

• The responses indicate that children and young people have differing views about whether bullying is an issue outside of their school with the responses nearly equally split between “yes”, “no” and “not sure”

• Children and young people who indicated that bullying is a particular problem outside of their school highlighted the following areas as being the greatest problem:

– when being with my friends outside of school

– at the weekend

– on the way to or home from school

• Other areas provided within the responses from the children and young people include:

– In the park

– When you are out on your own

– After school clubs

About bullying in Bromley

Question: What else do you think could be done to stop bullying in Bromley?

• Ideas provided within the responses from the children and young people include:

Posters around including a helpline number

Greater police presence in Bromley

Teachers could talk about it more

Remove privilege of Oyster Cards if bullying happens on a bus

Stricter punishments

You could get every single school in Bromley to watch a programme to tell them to stop bullying or make it the law

Have a big place where children can talk to other children like them

Send out questionnaires more often

Maybe mention what actually bullying is so if people don’t know that they are a bully maybe they will stop

What we are doing (1 of 2)

Sharing

• We have shared this analysis with

– the School Councils which took part in the survey and the Bromley Youth Council

– all schools and colleges in the Borough

– the Bromley Children and Young People Partnership Board

• We have published the analysis on the Bromley partnership website

Reviewing

• We have committed to conducting regular engagement of pupils to monitor the views of bullying across the Borough  

What we are doing (2 of 2)

Shaping

• We have used the analysis to help shape the priorities within the Bromley Children and Young People Partnership’s Children’s Strategy for 2012 to 2015, including the following actions:

– Education Welfare Service and Behaviour Service to provide support to schools on a regular basis

– Promote the Positive Behaviours Strategy through the Safer Schools and Colleges Partnership

– Implementation of safe travel measures under the Bromley College travel plan

– Identify and train a Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre Ambassador to advise Bromley College students and staff about online issues and risks

– We will be working with the organisations that are part of the Bromley Children and Young People Partnership to review and revise the actions to ensure that we can fully tackle the issues that were raised

Contact details

Michael Watts

Senior Partnerships and Planning Officer Education and Care ServicesLondon Borough of Bromley

Tel: 020 8461 7608E-mail: michael.watts@bromley.gov.uk