Bullying

What is bullying:
Bullying is a repeated act that is intended to hurt or harm someone. This can be done physically, verbally or emotionally (psychologically).
Examples of physical bullying are things like hitting, pushing, kicking or the taking or damage of someones property that belongs to the "victim". Examples of verbal bullying could be name-calling, threatening or even teasing.  Psychological bullying is things that affect someones way of thinking like, gossiping (roomers), excluding or isolating someone and even just by ignoring a person. more information about bullying can be found here: beatbullying -----> resources ---------> statistics

Where does it happen:
The usual place for bullying (excluding cyberbullying) to happen is at school, on the way to school and virtually everywhere where a young person may come into contact with any other young people. However most people get bullied at school and traveling to and from school. There is an organisation that is able to help with bullying if it happens on your buss to and from school. This is called buswise if you are being bullied on the buss you can report it to them, and their on board cameras are able to provide evidence of the bullying taking place.
Around 75% of bullying happens at breaks and lunchtimes in school, down the corridors, on the playground and even in the toilets. The bullying may also happen in the classrooms unless the teacher knows the signs of bullying and punishes people accordingly when they see that it is happening.
It is very obvious that the place where the most bullying happens is at school.This is why people who are in a professional role like a teacher or youth worker should be aware of bullying.
This is what a professional resource officer form the ERYC has to say:

"At the moment all YSS Advisors working with young people have an input into anti-bullying interventions with the young people they work with.  For my part I have been involved in staff development to empower those staff working with young people in schools to have a good understanding of the issues which may arise both from those young people who are affected by bullying and also those who partake in bullying behavior."  

Bullying does happen in school and around 25% of people are victims of bullying.

Effects bullying has on people
If you are a victim of bullying it can have a huge impact on your life, usually a negative one. Research about bullying shows that victims of bullying may become:

- depressed
- anxious
- shy
- insecure
- lonely
- wanting to avoid going to school
-  less involved with peers or people around them
- isolated

Severe cases of bullying can lead to PTSD (Post-traumatic stress disorder) which can have a huge impact on peoples lives. Bullying can also cause people to end their lives and to also loose control, when this happens SOME people end up taking drugs or even bullying other people. However not all victims of bullying do this.
This is only some of the effects of bullying, as there are many more.

Who to talk to in school:
If you are suffering from bullying in school there are many people you can talk to. You can talk to a:
- teacher
- a member of staff
- a peer mentor / cybermentor (if your school have these schemes)
- someone from student support services e.g. the hub.
- your head of year
- your form tutor
- the anti-bullying coordinator
- youth worker or Youth Adviser from the YSS
- a school nurse or a counselor
and even your friends and family.

Who to talk to out of school:
You can talk to anyone mentioned above but they may have some restrictions as to what they can do.
You can also talk to:
- a cybermentor / senior cybermentor / counselor on www.cybermentors.org.uk
- a counselor from childline on www.childline.org.uk or on 0800 1111
- a doctor
- a police officer - you can call 999 if it is an emergency.
- you can report it to ceop (see the site for more details) www.ceop.police.uk
and again you can also talk to your friends and family.

Additional Information
This is the anti-bullying policy for the TMWS (The Market Weighton School) June 2012:
Click here to view in a PDF

This is the general ERYC anti-bullying policy:
Click here to view in a PDF

This is a link to a search which highlights most schools anti-bullying policies across the East Riding Click Here.
If you are not able to find the policy you need you are able to ask the school to provide you with a policy or look at the schools website.
Fish is also able to offer information about everything to do with young people. You can find schools in your area by looking at the school finder: School finder. This also provides information about the school.