Setting

Aviation House 125 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE T 0300 123 1231 F 020 7421 6855 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Mrs J FitzGerald Headteacher St Clement’s CofE Primary School Abbey Hey Lane Higher Openshaw Manchester M11 1LR

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bullying practice in schools

Thank you for your hospitality and cooperation, and that of your staff and pupils, during my visit on 29 September 2011 as part of our survey of schools’ work to create a positive school culture and prevent and tackle bullying.

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bullying practice in schools

The visit provided valuable information which will contribute to our national evaluation and reporting. Published reports are likely to list the names of the contributing institutions but individual institutions will not be identified in the main text without their consent.

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bullying practice in schools

This letter briefly summarises our discussion at the end of the visit.

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Strengths of this aspect of the school’s work

 The school’s values underpin the behaviour and anti-bullying polices, and results in a shared understanding among the school community that adults and pupils will treat each other with respect.  The Code of Conduct has a high profile across the school. All classrooms display the Golden Rules, while class and whole-school assemblies focus on pupils’ positive behaviour. As a consequence, pupils and adults have a consistent understanding of how they should behave and treat each other. This makes a considerable contribution to the caring and positive relationships within the school.  There is a strong focus on rewarding positive behaviour and empowering pupils to take ownership of their behaviour and act as role models. Pupils wear the Blue Jumpers, which are awarded for good behaviour, with genuine pride. In addition, older pupils who act as prefects and buddies take their responsibilities as role models very seriously. These pupils make

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Strengths of this aspect of the school’s work

a significant contribution to the enjoyment and safety of their peers during breaks and lunchtimes as they organise and supervise a range of purposeful activities.  The well-planned and highly relevant curriculum to promote pupils’ personal development is systematically delivered across the whole school. This enables pupils to develop social skills; to explore how their actions affect others; to consider how to tackle bullying and to reflect on diversity. The curriculum is responsive to pupils’ needs and takes account of local and national issues. For example, pupils explored the theme of ‘Hidden Beauty’ as a vehicle to raise self-esteem. The provision for pupils who need additional support from time to time is equally strong, as there are opportunities for one-to-one support or for group work using the ‘Place to Talk’ programme.  Pupils say that bullying rarely happens. Most have a clear understanding of

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Strengths of this aspect of the school’s work

what to do if they are a victim of bullying and they are confident that they can share their concerns with an adult. Pupils understand how bullying can affect others and they know they should not act as bystanders to any acts of intimidation.  Senior leaders and managers have the confidence and trust of other adults when dealing with any bullying or behaviour incidents. This is because good communication systems and effective support have led to a shared responsibility for the welfare and happiness of pupils.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, include:

 ensuring greater cohesion between the behaviour and anti-bullying policies by aligning the two documents and simplifying their content to provide easier access for all stakeholders  developing a system to collate the findings which are currently recorded in different incident logs and using this information to monitor and analyse the type of bullying that occurs and the impact it has on different groups of pupils  providing more frequent opportunities for parents, carers and different groups of pupils to share their views about bullying and behaviour.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, include:

I hope that this visit has been useful in the further development of this aspect of the school’s work.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, include:

As explained previously, a copy of this letter will be published on the Ofsted website. It may be used to inform decisions about any future inspection. A copy of this letter is also being sent to your local authority.

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