Bullying

The Cottesloe School have zero tolerance for bullying.  We can only help you once you report it, we appreciate it is not always so easy to do so, therefore we have several ways in which you can report it to us.  

• Via the ‘Share It’ button on the school website
• Via your child’s form tutor
• By emailing the school office (office@cottesloe.bucks.sch.uk) who can pass concerns onto the relevant member of staff
• Students are also able to report bullying to any member of staff
• Team Hub
• An Anti-Bullying Ambassador
• Using the Share It tab
• Via the library reporting box.

Anti-Bullying Ambassador is a scheme that is run by The Diana Award. The students will also be taking part in additional training with them next month. Students have also recently completed a United Against Bullying survey. This is run by the Anti-Bullying Alliance and gives a useful insight into student opinions about anti-bullying and wellbeing in the school. We will be using this information and working with the Anti-bullying Ambassadors to build on our existing anti-bullying strategies over the coming months.

The team is made up of thirteen students from Years 7 to 10, who have undergone in school training covering areas such as how to support someone who is being bullied, how to report concerns and anti-bullying strategies.  Together we work to raise awareness and stop the issue of bullying around The Cottesloe School. Our aim is to make sure that all pupils feel safe and happy all the time.

We made a pledge board with upstander pledges written by students explaining what they would do if they saw someone being bullied. We also had a school assembly on the topic of bullying conducted by Mrs Catling and Mrs Moore who is the head of the Anti-Bullying Ambassador (ABA) team. This was followed by a PSHE lesson explaining and discussing what bullying is and how to deal with it. We felt that students needed to know that bullying is an unkind behaviour that is repeated.

Background Information – online sexual abuse is any type of sexual abuse that happens on the web, whether through social networks, online gaming or using mobile phones. In some cases, this involves children being groomed or exploited by an adult. Any child or young person that uses the internet or has a smartphone could be a victim of online abuse regardless of their age, gender or background.
Reports of online child sexual abuse in the Thames Valley area were 146% higher in March 2020 in comparison with March 2019. We want to warn young people that those they are speaking to may not be who they say they are and to help parents and carers take action in protecting their children from falling victim to online sexual abuse.

• Thames Valley Police campaign landing page https://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/police-forces/thames-valley-police/areas/c/2017/hidden-harm/online-child-abuse/

• Ellie’s story - An account of a victim of online child abuse that was first used in our Hidden Harm campaign in 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rVx9-VnLX0

• Thinkuknow - The education programme from CEOP, part of the NCA with advice and games focusing on staying safe online. https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/

• Net Aware – a collaboration between the NSPCC and O2 with advice and information on a variety of social networks, apps and games www.net-aware.org.uk

• NSPCC – adult helpline: 0808 800 5000, Childline: 0800 1111. www.nspcc.org.uk

• Apps to focus on – we will be focusing our attention on securing children on Snapchat, Whatsapp, Instagram, TikTok, Kik and Omegle as these are the most prevalent apps that we are seeing in reports of online child sexual abuse.