"One of my pupils is being bullied; a staff member says he's dealing with it but the bullying continues."

"One of my students is constantly being bullied by another student.
The Head of Year has been told the matter is "being dealt with." But the other day I caught him doing it again – what should I do?"



*Firstly, I would seek full details from the student. I would write these
down. I would then speak with the member of staff who had said the matter was being dealt with and furnish them with the information about the latest incident.

If, in fact, the staff member has been in talks with the student it is important that he/she receives the news of the latest incident, as clearly the problem has not been solved.

The student now needs to be confronted with this information and explain why he/she is still continuing to bully the other student.

If you feel that the staff member is not, in fact, dealing effectively with the incidents then you need to alert someone higher up the management team as clearly incidents like these cannot be allowed to continue.

If I were that staff member I would be taking steps to inform the bully's parents what their child was doing and would be presenting the child with materials to challenge their behaviour, possibly during detention or internal exclusion. (I would be using BehaviourOnline's interactive and printable resources.)

Action has to be taken straight away when it comes to bullying incidents of a continuing nature such as this.

By David Allaway (BehaviourOnline) BA, Cert Ed; Grad dip (Ed. Couns)