Bournville Against Bullying - Parents

Advice for Parents

Bournville School is committed to stopping bullying in all its forms. National Anti bullying week takes place in November every year. The focus this year is Cyber bullying – bullying that happens via mobile phones or the internet. Parents tend to worry about bullying and knowing what to do if there are signs that your child may be being affected by the bullying, or even if you suspect your child may be bullying someone else.

Signs of Bullying

If you suspect that your child is being bullied, look out for the following signs. You may see one or more of these signs:

• Make excuses to miss school, such as stomach complains, headaches (or even truanting)
• Show signs of stress mood swings, silent or crying or even bullying a younger sibling or friend
• Have trouble sleeping
• A change in behaviour
• Have more bruises or cuts than usual
• Seem to be upset after using the internet or mobile
• Change their eating habits
• Arrive home with torn clothes or school equipment which is broken or missing, or have’ lost’ money

As there could be other reasons for these signs, you need to ask yourself these questions:

• Is there a chance that anything else could be bothering your child?
• Could there be changes in your family life? Such as a new baby/divorce or separation which could be a contributing factor?

When a child is the target of cyber bullying, they can feel isolated and misunderstood. It is therefore vital that as a parent or carer, you know how to support your child. The following information will provide tips on how to prevent cyber bullying and how to respond to it.

• Set out family rules on how to deal with cyber bullying at home such as saving messages or texts as evidence and showing them to an adult at home.
• Encourage your child to keep passwords safe
• Together with your child, explore the websites which they like to use
• Supervise your child whilst on the internet
• Make an effort to use the security settings on your families computer or your child’s phone
• Help & support your child if they tell you they are a victim of cyber bullying – explain that they have made the right decision in reporting this. Make it clear that its not their fault and tell them that you will help them deal with it.
• Ensure your child does not retaliate by replying in emails or texts
• Encourage and help your child to save evidence of cyber bullying either by saving text messages or printing the page on the internet.
• If bullying has taken place, to prevent further bullying help your child to change their contact details or block the person that is doing it
• Always report cyber bullying. You can report it to the school, the website or service provider and in serious cases to the police.