Pupils: Bullying
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help prevent bullying in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in Essex.
Answered by Stephen Morgan
All schools must have a behaviour policy with measures to prevent all forms of bullying. They are free to develop their own anti-bullying strategies to suit their specific needs and are held to account by Ofsted.
Schools must take a strong stand against all forms of bullying and should tackle bullying at the earliest opportunity to prevent it from escalating, particularly given the impact it can have on pupils, both emotionally and physically.
The department has published advice to support schools with addressing incidents of bullying. The guidance is clear that schools should make appropriate provision for a bullied child's social, emotional and mental health needs. The guidance is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/625ee64cd3bf7f6004339db8/Preventing_and_tackling_bullying_advice.pdf.
The department has also published a practical tool to help schools, which can be found on the Educate Against Hate website. It is available here: https://educateagainsthate.com/resources/respectful-school-communities-self-review-signposting-tool-2/.
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