School and council policy in supporting vulnerable children and reducing abusive and poor peer relations.
Minutes:
7.1 The chair invited the young people to give their views on bullying. A young person said that peer pressure is the main issue and this is not direct bullying; but about mental pressure. Another young person agreed and said that this can by sly, for example pretending to be a friend but not really being genuine.
7.2 A young person reported that his school uses a box where you can put a slip in talking about bullying , but withhold your name and a teacher will then go and talk to with the named person in a sensitive way . He commented that sometimes group behaviour can be perceived as bullying , even if that is not the intention, for example if someone falls over and then their companions react in a way that makes the person feel bad by laughing.
7.3 A young person spoke about his experience of mentoring a younger boy. He visited the counselling programme a Place2be, which really helped. He commented that his behaviour was to do with his home background.
7.4 Cyber bullying was raised as an issue of concern and a young person spoke of an image that circulated of a girl, which was not very nice. He reported that the school tackled that very well and as a result relationships improved. A member asked the young people if text and cyber bullying is an area of particular concern and suggested that the committee ask social media and mobile providers to give evidence. She also commented that this is an area that both schools and young people need to work on.
7.5 The positive role of School Councils in tackling bullying was cited, however young people spoke about issues outside of school and the 381 bus route was given as an example of poor behaviour. Young people suggested that somebody went on the route to combat bullying.
7.6 The education representatives spoke about the video and booklet that Southwark Council produced that is very good.
7.7 A member said that her school have instigated a kindness week and added that raising awareness of the different types of bullying; emotional, psychological, physical and sexual is very important in enabling staff to tackle bullying.
RESOLVED
Invite outside organisations and social media and mobile providers to give evidence about their role in tackling cyber bullying