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PARENTS ZONE

What should you do next?

What to do next?

Talk to your child

It is important that you talk to your child about their experiences of the bullying, or being the bully. You may have been contacted by the school or you may have noticed that something is wrong yourself. I would advise that you do not ignore the problem as there is always the possibility for it to get worse.

 

As a parent you may find it difficult to stay calm or keep your emotions in check when dealing with an issue around bullying, however it is important that you communicate with your child in a way that is not threatening or aggressive. This is because the situation may be hard for them to talk about anyway.

 

Contact the school

If your child is being bullied by another child, you should contact the school even if the child carrying out the bullying attends a different school in the area. All schools have a duty to take action against any form of bullying between students, including cyber-bullying.

 

The issue may not be a case of bullying, it could be just a conflict between your child and another, and the school should be able to resolve this. It is important to remember that not all conflicts or fights are cases of bullying, but the school should be able to help with any concerns you have.

 

Not happy with the outcome?

If you don't feel happy that the situation has been dealt with or resolved, you can ask to see the schools anti-bullying policy. You should make notes of the areas you feel were not highlighted or dealt with. All schools should have an anti-bullying policy in place which you can request to see.

 

Talk to the Head Teacher

Trying to contact the Head Teacher is not always easy, so it is important that you make it clear you need to speak to them as soon as it’s possible. The PA for the Head Teacher may try to refer you to another member of staff within the school, if this is the case you should make it clear you want to speak to the Head Teacher directly.

 

Once you get to speak to the Head Teacher you should discuss the situation and refer to the school’s anti-bullying policy. Allow the Head Teacher time to deal with the issue, it is important that you follow up your conversation with a letter, stating clearly that you are awaiting a response within 10 working days. (You should keep a copy for yourself as you may need this later on).

 

If after speaking with the head you still feel the issue has not been resolved, you should ask for the contact details of the Board of Governors. Then write a letter to the Board with your concerns and reasons for why you feel the issue was not resolved, allow them 10 working days to respond to the letter with an outcome (again you may want to keep a copy of this letter).

 

If you are still not happy with the way the situation has been dealt with you should make a formal complaint to the LEA (Local Education Authority). When you contact the LEA you should ask for an investigation to be carried out and a report to be issued.

 

If you still don't feel that the issue has been resolved after contacting the LEA you can make a complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman and your local MP whose details you can find on the UK Parliament's Website. The LGO will look at the work of the LEA only as they cannot look at the schools internal work.

 

Having carried out the above steps you are still not satisfied with the outcome your final option would be to contact the Secretary of State, at Sanctuary Buildings, Great Smith Street, Westminster, London or at the DFE, Castle View House, East Lane, Runcorn, Cheshire, WA7 2GJ.

 

For any of the letters you send, it is important that you provide as much detail as possible, including the dates of any incidents and each of the letters should also be dated.

 

 

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