Setting

Aviation House 125 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE T 0300 123 1234 F 020 7421 6855 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Mrs H Burchell Headteacher West Pennard Church of England Primary School Church Lane West Pennard Glastonbury BA6 8NT

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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 21 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 school has achieved the Rights Respecting School award and uses the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) to formulate class charters. These are used very well to illustrate to pupils the link between rights and responsibilities. In Reception, these are shown by pictures and in other classes they include clear written expectations; for example, ‘Every child has the right to say what they think in all matters affecting them’ is supplemented with the responsibility that it is done ‘politely and correctly.’  Pupils understand and have ownership of the school’s expectations and consequently they behave appropriately and respect differences. They feel that any incidents of poor behaviour are dealt with well and that there are very few incidents of bullying. When these occur they feel they can gain support form the learning mentors who are always available, especially

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Strengths of this aspect of the school’s work

during playtimes.  Your strong steer ensures that all staff model good practice in interpersonal relationships. For example, staff model good practice to young children, some of whom have underdeveloped social skills when they enter school. The expectations are set out in well-defined policies for behaviour and anti-bullying, including expectations of the way in which the school will work with parents and carers.  Pupils were observed in assembly feeding back on the work they had done during anti-bullying week. This included a highly effective video and some clear posters on the topic. Pupils had written extensively in some classes around the topic while in others they had written some very emotive poems.  The curriculum introduces activities to develop better understanding about individual differences across all years. This includes a clear progression as pupils get older and able to be more reflective of these areas. The school

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Strengths of this aspect of the school’s work

makes very good use of the world renowned local cultural festival to enhance pupils’ understanding of diversity. This includes meeting other pupils with different backgrounds and beliefs and also those who follow very different lifestyles.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, include:

 recording the actions taken when a resolution to a bullying incident is agreed so that it can be monitored through to its conclusion.

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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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