Anti-Bullying

1. Purpose

Many of our learners have been bullied, have bullied others, or both. Some arrive carrying conflicts from school, their area or online. Everyone at Care Cove has the right to feel safe, and nobody's placement should be spoiled by fear.

This policy explains what bullying is, how we prevent it, and what every adult does when it happens. We respond firmly and fairly, we support the learner who was harmed, and we help the learner who caused harm to understand it and put it right. We never exclude.

2. Scope

This policy applies to all learners, whoever commissions their place, and to all staff, supply staff, counsellors, coaches and volunteers. It covers bullying at 37 Townhead Street, outdoor classrooms, off-site sessions, placements and transport, and bullying online or outside the provision that affects our learners. Bullying of a learner by an adult is dealt with under the Managing Allegations Against Staff and Low-Level Concerns policy.

3. Law and guidance

• Keeping Children Safe in Education 2026: bullying, including online and prejudice-based bullying, is a form of child-on-child abuse. Part Five covers child-on-child sexual violence and sexual harassment.

• DfE Preventing and tackling bullying (2017).

• Behaviour in Schools (DfE, 2024), which we follow as good practice.

• Equality Act 2010, and our duty to comply with it.

• Relationships, Sex and Health Education statutory guidance (revised, in effect from 1 September 2026), including misogyny, AI and deepfakes.

• Some bullying is also a crime, including assault, threats, harassment, hate crime and sharing intimate images.

4. Roles and responsibilities

5. What bullying is

5.1 Definition

Bullying is behaviour by one person or a group, usually repeated over time, that deliberately hurts someone else physically or emotionally, where there is an imbalance of power. It can happen face to face or online. A one-off fall-out between equals is not bullying, but it still matters and is dealt with through restorative practice. A single serious incident is always acted on, whether or not it is called bullying.

5.2 Forms of bullying

• Physical: hitting, pushing, tripping, taking or damaging belongings.

• Verbal: name-calling, put-downs, threats, swearing at someone.

• Social: leaving someone out, spreading rumours, turning others against them, intimidation.

• Online: hurtful messages, group chats that target or exclude someone, sharing photos or videos, fake accounts, deepfakes, filming and posting fights.

• Extortion: pressuring someone for money, vapes, phones or favours.

• Area or group rivalry: targeting someone because of where they live or who they are linked to, which can overlap with exploitation and serious youth violence.

5.3 Prejudice-based and discriminatory bullying

This is bullying aimed at who someone is. It includes bullying linked to the protected characteristics in the Equality Act 2010 (age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation), and in particular:

• racist and religious bullying, including towards Gypsy, Roma and Traveller learners;

• homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying;

• disability-related bullying, including targeting learners with SEND;

• sexist and misogynist bullying, including sexual comments, rating appearance and "jokes" about sexual violence.

We also watch for bullying linked to being in care, being a young carer, poverty, appearance or being in AP. Prejudiced language is challenged every time, whether or not it is aimed at someone present. It is never "banter".

5.4 When bullying becomes child-on-child abuse

All bullying is taken seriously. Tell the DSL immediately, and follow the Safeguarding and Child Protection policy, where bullying:

• gives reasonable cause to suspect a learner is suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm;

• involves sexual harassment or sexual violence, upskirting or sharing nudes or semi-nudes, including AI-generated images;

• involves violence causing injury, a weapon, or threats to seriously harm someone;

• is a hate crime, or involves coercion, extortion or exploitation;

• is serious or sustained online harassment;

• is linked to self-harm, suicidal thoughts or a sharp decline in a learner's mental health.

The DSL responds under the child-on-child abuse procedure in the Safeguarding and Child Protection policy (following KCSIE Part Five for sexual violence and sexual harassment), with separate support for each learner and a referral to the Sheffield Safeguarding Hub or the police where needed. If in doubt, tell the DSL.

6. Preventing bullying

• The Respect Code. Learned on day one and on the wall in every room: I respect myself; I respect everyone here; I respect this place. "No put-downs, no swearing at anyone, no filming or sharing anyone. I use people's names. I give everyone a fresh start each morning, and I get one too."

• The Respect Circle. Once a week, each group talks about what respect looked like, gives shout-outs and names anything that needs repairing.

• Curriculum. The RESET Respect pillar teaches managing conflict, healthy relationships, misogyny and gender stereotypes, and discrimination and the law. Tech mastery covers online behaviour.

• Supervision. Groups of six or fewer with at least two adults; supervised transitions; staff at breaks and at the Family Table; staff positioned at hotspots such as the stairs, reception and toilets, and on outdoor sessions.

• Phones docked. Phones stay in lockers all day, which removes most chances to film or message others on site.

• Staggered arrivals and departures where a learner's risk assessment requires it.

• Group mix checks. At admission, known conflicts are checked with the referral panel and the contextual risk map. Before a new learner joins a group, and whenever a conflict emerges, the Head of AP checks the group mix. We tell the commissioning local authority when a placement mix creates risk; we raise the concern rather than refuse a placement.

• Staff modelling and training. Staff challenge put-downs privately and calmly, never through public correction. Induction covers this policy, followed by equality, diversity and inclusion training (by 18 December 2026) and restorative practice training (by 25 January 2027).

7. Responding to bullying

7.1 Straight away

1. Stop it and make everyone safe. Stay calm and separate learners if needed.

2. Listen to the learner who was targeted. Take it seriously even if it seems small or they say it is nothing. Do not promise to keep secrets.

3. Record it on Connect the same day: what happened, who was involved, where and when, the learner's own words, and any prejudice involved.

4. Tell the key mentor and Head of AP the same day, and the DSL immediately if section 5.4 might apply.

7.2 Supporting the learner who was bullied

• The key mentor checks in daily at first and agrees a simple safety plan: who to go to, and any changes to groups, seating, transitions or arrival times.

• Changes should not penalise the learner who was bullied. Where someone needs to move, it is normally the learner who bullied, unless the learner who was harmed prefers otherwise.

• The counsellor is told through the weekly multidisciplinary meeting, so therapy can support recovery.

7.3 Working with the learner who bullied

We use the RESET four Rs. Bullying never leads to exclusion, and nobody is corrected or shamed in public.

1. Reminder: a private word naming the promise that was broken.

2. Reset: time in the regulation space with an adult, if needed, until the learner is calm.

3. Repair: a restorative conversation the same day. The adult helps the learner understand the harm and agree how to put it right. Repair with the learner who was harmed happens only if they want it and it is safe. It may be a meeting, a message or a conversation through an adult, and is never forced. Restorative meetings are not used for sexual violence or where the DSL judges them unsafe.

4. Review: a pattern goes to the weekly meeting, the learner's plan and, where needed, the Team Around the Family.

We also ask why. Behaviour is communication. A learner who bullies may be being bullied, harmed or exploited themselves, and their plan addresses that. Where bullying is prejudice-based, the response includes learning about why it causes harm.

7.4 Parents and referring schools

The key mentor tells the parents or carers of each learner involved the same day, unless the DSL decides this would put a learner at risk. We tell each learner's referring school through the Partner portal or DSL to DSL. Each family and school is told only what they need to know about the other learner.

7.5 Review

The key mentor checks with the learner who was bullied after one week and again after four weeks, and records it on Connect. The record stays open until the learner and family say the bullying has stopped and the Head of AP agrees. If it continues, the Head of AP reviews both learners' plans, the DSL considers safeguarding, and we raise any placement mix concern with the commissioning local authority.

8. Online bullying and bullying outside the provision

We act on bullying that happens online or away from Care Cove, at any time, when it involves our learners or affects their safety, wellbeing or relationships here.

• Help the learner keep evidence (screenshots of messages and profiles, never of nude images), report and block the account, and involve parents.

• The DSL involves the police where there are threats, harassment, hate crime or image sharing.

• Where the bullying involves pupils at a learner's home school, we tell that school so it can act too.

• Online bullying of staff by learners, including fake images, is dealt with under the Behaviour, Rewards and Restorative Practice policy, and staff are supported.

9. Recording and analysing patterns

• Every incident is recorded on Connect, tagged by type (including the type of prejudice), place, time and learners involved.

• The Head of AP reviews the records weekly for repeat targets, repeat perpetrators, hotspots, times of day and group dynamics, and acts on what they show: changing supervision, timetables or group mix.

• The Head of AP reports numbers, types, outcomes and actions to the SWMC termly. Patterns feed into half-termly monitoring with the commissioning local authority as part of the behaviour and safeguarding picture.

10. Learner voice

Learners help keep this policy real. They speak up through the weekly Respect Circle, the termly pupil forum, the half-termly learner survey (which asks whether they feel safe and whether they have been bullied) and the Student app's route to tell a trusted adult. Each year, learners help review this policy and write the short learner version that goes on the wall.

11. Monitoring and review

The SWMC reviews bullying and prejudice-based incidents termly, and the annual independent external safeguarding audit covers child-on-child abuse. This policy is reviewed annually, or sooner after an incident, a change in law or guidance, or a contract change.

12. Related policies

• 01 Safeguarding and Child Protection
• 03 Managing Allegations Against Staff and Low-Level Concerns
• 06 Online Safety and Acceptable Use
• 07 Behaviour, Rewards and Restorative Practice
• 10 Mobile Phones and Digital Devices
• 12 Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)
• 18 Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
• 26 Off-site Learning and Educational Visits
• 30 Referrals, Admissions and Ending Placements

Document control and ratification

This policy is signed off by the Designated Safeguarding Lead and the Head of Alternative Provision, and ratified by the Social Work Management Committee. It is reviewed every year, or sooner after an incident or a change in law, statutory guidance or contract requirements, and it is available to any commissioning local authority on request.