Bullying in Y3

[Bonsoir]

There did seem to be any bullying at all in my DD's class up until this year, when it has started with a vengeance. My gut feeling is that the children are getting very bored at break and lunch time (small space to play in, absolutely nothing to do but run around/play tag/skip). The lunch hour in particular is too long - one and a half hours. My DD doesn't eat at school, like quite a few of her classmates, but the ones who do eat at school every day seem to be ganging up and getting up to no good.

Does anyone have any perspective on this, in particular the total lack of constructive activities for 7/8 year olds...

There did not seem

It's the age, when people talk about bullying it usually starts around this age. 3-6yos can be surprisingly tolerant & open-minded & forgiving. Older ones become quite tribal (into gangs).

Could you start a lunch time club to give them something constructive to do?

I think lack of activities can be an issue as can a long lunch break.

We have 1hr 15 mins for lunch but split our play by having half an hour before eating then a short play after eating.

Another huge factor is how effective the dinner ladies are.

Do they just chat to each other, or do they interact with the kids and notice things before there's a problem.

Also how many lunchtime clubs there are..... And who they're aimed at.

If you can entice a couple of the ringleaders / bullies into a lunchtime club you can make an amazing difference for everyone.

There are no lunchtime clubs because there is no space at school to have any. Children in the last two years of primary have Spanish as an option, with a 60% take up rate, and that uses up 30 minutes of the lunch hour.

The lunchtime supervisors are a mixed bunch.

Since writing this post I have had a long chat about this issue with a mother with a DD in another class (there are 5 parallel classes) and the bullying situation appears just as bad as if not worse in her DD's class. Grrrrr.