Overview
Being bullied is never okay. Remember, you’re not alone. There are people who want to help you. This page outlines some steps you, or your parent carer, can take if you’re experiencing bullying.
When you go to a school, club, or other provider, they must keep you safe and well. They have a duty to protect you. They must make sure that children are not harmed. This means they should prevent actions or environments that could cause stress in children. This includes bullying.
It is important that cases of bullying, harassment or discrimination are resolved quickly.
Understanding bullying
Not every unkind thing children do is bullying. Not playing fairly, teasing, expressing negative thoughts, or leaving someone out are unkind behaviours. Children are constantly learning how to get along with others and make mistakes along the way. It becomes bullying when hurtful behaviours are repeated and meant to cause harm, with an imbalance of power.
If you think your child is being bullied, be clear about the details. Speak to your child and write down as much detail as possible about what happened. This helps you spot patterns in the bullying and keeps a record for current and future use.
Bullying and responses
Each organisation’s approach to handling bullying is independent. Their policies may differ, but they all aim to create a safe environment. Look for information on:
- How to report bullying incidents
- The process for investigating bullying claims
- Support services available for both the victim and the bully
- Consequences for bullying behaviour
To find your school or activity club’s policy, check their website. It may be called an anti-bullying policy or be within their behaviour policy.
Seek support
Bullying can have a big impact on emotional well-being. There are different people you can talk to if you’re struggling to cope with the effects of bullying. If you don’t want to speak to your family, teacher or support worker, there are other places you can go for emotional health support:
- Kooth
- ChatHealth (School Nurses) for young people or parents
- Childline (provided by NPSCC)
- Mind in Somerset
Overcome bullying tendencies
No parent wants to hear that their child is bullying other children. It’s painful to think of your child inflicting harm.
Act quickly to help your child learn new ways of managing their feelings. They may feel peer pressure or have conflicts with others. Talk to your child and try to understand why they are behaving this way. Maybe they have trouble managing and communicating strong emotions such as anger or frustration.
Work with the school to teach constructive behaviours. Don’t forget there are sections in Somerset’s Graduated Response Tool and Neurodiversity Interventions – Graduated Response for supporting social communication and emotional regulation. Stay in regular contact with the school to see what is working.
Harassment and discrimination
Sometimes, bullying can be more intrusive. If individual differences are used to target someone, it is called harassment. Harassment is covered by laws such as the Sex Discrimination Act, the Race Relations Act, the Disability Discrimination Act and the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act, as well as laws on common assault.
If you feel treated unfairly in any way whilst using our services, please let us know. You can do this through the council’s complaint process. We promise to investigate and aim to correct any unfairness or unfair discrimination.
If you feel discriminated against, see the Equality and Human Rights Commission website. It provides information on dealing with discrimination and your options.