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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Mr M Smallwood Headteacher Sale Grammar School Marshland Road Sale Cheshire M33 3NH

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bullying practice in schools

Thank you for your hospitality and cooperation, and that of your staff and students, during my visit with John Peckham HMI, on 15 November 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 behaviour and anti-bullying policies are well written and sharply focused on rewarding positive actions and attitudes. The policies clearly identify how members of the school community will interact with each other. These expectations are actively promoted across the school so students and adults have a consistent understanding that they should treat each other with respect. This makes a considerable contribution to the positive relationships within the school.  Clear systems are in place to prevent and tackle bullying. A range of avenues is available for students to share their concerns and receive support. Regular analysis of the good-quality information on behaviour is used well to identify whole-school issues and gaps in provision.  Students are able to explore the impact of their actions on others; consider differences, prejudice and tolerance and develop an awareness of different types of bullying because the highly relevant curriculum is well

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Strengths of this aspect of the school’s work

structured and coordinated across the whole school. The curriculum is fully responsive to students’ needs and interests because leaders and managers use students’ evaluations to amend and review the content.  The majority of students say that they have never been bullied and that bullying rarely happens in school.  Transition and induction arrangements are carefully planned so that Year 7 students and those who arrive during the academic year settle quickly and understand how they are expected to interact with adults and students.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, include:

 ensuring greater clarity in expressing the school’s core values and using these values as a driver to further students’ understanding of the behaviour and anti-bullying policies  building on existing systems to help students be even better at understanding their responsibility as a bystander to any acts of bullying and to be more aware of the impact of inappropriate language.

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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.

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