Section 3 - priority projects

Reducing bullying

Accountable Officer - Kevin Peers

Lead Officer - Annette Lyons

Project Board - Local Safeguarding Children Board

Reference Groups

scrutiny groups of children and young people
Equality and Diversity Reference Group
Schools Forum

Key Links - stay safe, children with special needs

What’s the story?

Children and young people tell us in a number of ways that bullying is a significant concern to them. This reflects national research which estimates that
eight out of ten children with disabilities are bullied at some point.

Children and young people who are seen as different often suffer from bullying. This is perhaps because they have a disability, different style, different ethnicity or a different sexuality. They may simply want to work harder than others or
have less money. What they have in common is that they can be victimised for that difference.

It is not easy to get reliable, objective data beyond research programmes. Our evidence comes from:

Kongomana and the shadow scrutiny work of young people
the national Tellus Survey spring 2007
Youth Views Devon 2007, which researched the life experiences of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender young people - it identified the school environment as being by far the most homophobic place.

Bullying may be defined as deliberately hurtful behaviour, usually repeated over a period of time, where it is difficult for those bullied to defend themselves. It can take many forms, but mainly it is:

physical hitting, kicking and theft using physical aggression
verbal racist or homophobic remarks, threats or name calling
emotional or indirect isolating an individual from the activities and social acceptance of their peer group and spreading rumours
technological or cyber using technology, such as text messages or the internet, to hurt an individual.

Concerns have been expressed about behaviour on school buses, and this has
been linked with bullying.