Right Consequences for bullying case or let off too easily??

[Ilovechurrosalldaylong]

I work in a pastoral role and have uncovered a situation where a boy has been bullying another boy since shortly after the school year started. Both are in yr 10. The victim has given a detailed account of all the events he can remember. Now SLT have decided that he shouldn’t get something between a leadership (1hr) detention and a half day in isolation. Decision not finalised yet.

When I queried this as I this as I though it was light for 5-6 months of proven bullying, I was told we can only really sanction the one incident that was actually observed by the teacher. (The most recent and the reason the rest all came to light)

I looked at the anti-bullying pilicy and it has a sliding scale of consequences but they are all based on acting again after a warning/consequence and it is true that this is his first time being warned.

It doesn’t help my feelings towards it that the victim has ASD (undiagnosed) and is extremely shy and the perpetrator has form for nasty behaviour/racism/homophobia etc.

Am I right to feel that even if he gets the higher end of half day in isolation it seems a light punishment for the agony he’s put the victim through? Or is it only fair that he gets a chance to mend his ways as SLT feel before a heavier sanction?

I can only speak from my perspective as a classroom teacher, but I feel very strongly that homophobia, racism, sexism and other forms of hate speech have absolutely no place in school (or anywhere for that matter) and should be taken very seriously.

If there is evidence of this (as well as the rest of it) then half a day in isolation isn't appropriate.

I don't feel phobic language is dealt with effectively or severely enough at my school and it really disappoints me. I tackle it as best as I can in my classroom but when I've referred it to those higher up I don't feel it is taken seriously enough.

That said, there might not be much you can do once leadership have made a decision other than to make yourself heard and to keep advocating for what is right x

Also just to add that bullying can have such awful long-term effects on people and it's really sad that this has been going on for so long.

Protected characteristics in our place would be at least a full day's isolation and parents in. If the character involved had previously been in trouble or the terminology was clearly racist, homophobic etc it would more than likely be an exclusion.

To be clear the bullying just uncovered is not about protected characteristics but the perpetrator has done that sort of thing in the past with other students. This is a case of regular “old fashioned” intimidation type bullying.

I suppose the punishment is for the one witnessed incident and not the entire 5-6 months of bullying. It’s rubbish and more will need to be done with this child but I don’t think further sanctions will sort the issue. Bullies are usually victims of bullying from elsewhere so the bigger issue is what will need to be tackled, which I hope it is. Remember us “ordinary teachers” aren’t usually privvy to safeguarding concerns or what is being done behind the scenes. Unfortunately this won’t feel like justice for the victim, but I hope that there are things being put in place to stop it from continuing.

"Consequences" should be about the expected outcome. Having a huge consequence may not make any difference. Certainly nothing would guarantee that bullying stops. It's possible that having this one incident witnessed, and the victim being listened to, may be the kick that is required to stop the perpetrator. It's great that the victim shared details of the bullying, and this line of communication should be kept open so that they can continue to disclose any incidents. Counselling/mentoring for the victim may be a more effective consequence than an exclusion for the perpetrator.

This is exactly it. I am “behind the scenes” so I know there is a plan on some intervention for the bully. (We are looking at referring to Prevent amongst other things). It just feels a bit unfair that only the witnessed incident is being punished.

But what would punishing the previous incidents actually solve? Especially as there were no witnesses so, essentially, it’s one child’s word against another’s. It would add fuel to the fire.

I find it frustrating it is being sanctioned in isolation from the other incidents of abuse. This isn’t the first time on unpleasant behaviour towards students so shouldn’t be treated as such.

Now the bullying is known about, hopefully it won’t continue underground as teachers can look out for interactions between the pair,

How is the other student being supported?