Firstly, what is bullying?

It is the repetitive, intentional hurting of one person or group by another person or group, where the relationship involves an imbalance of power.

Bullying is not 'falling out with a friend' because children don't 'plan' to fall out with their friends, it's accidental and the situation is of equal power as both contribute to the argument.

Bullying is one-sided as it happens to the person, so the person doing the bullying gets a feeling of power.

There are four main types of bullying behaviour-

• Verbal Bullying- using your voice to say unkind words eg call names, spreading rumours

• Physical Bullying- using your body to hurt another deliberately e.g. hitting, pushing, spitting, pinching

• Indirect Bullying- emotional harm e.g. leaving someone out, ignoring, talking behind someone's back, ganging up

• Cyber or Online Bullying- being unkind using electronic devices. e.g. spreading rumours , threatening or saying hurtful things on social media 

We understand that many of our children have had different experiences in previous schools. Many of our children report being bullied in their previous settings. An important part of their transition into our school is for us to understand these lived experiences for both the child and their family and support them to understand the definition of bullying compared to friendships worries so that they feel empowered whilst being educated with us at Discovery Academy.