Why this is leading practice
We think that this scheme is a vital addition to the school community and contributes to its procedures for dealing with bullying within the school.
Impact to date
• The role played by students in this important part of school life.
• The responsibility invested in the Peer Listeners by the school in its support for a more pupil centred ethos of learning and teaching.
• The confidence this scheme has generated within the school and wider community for safeguarding pupils within a learning setting.
• One major impact of the work has been to change the whole school anti-bullying policy to accommodate the Service.
• Major Service outcomes are that individual students who need to share issues are better supported; there is better cross-school understanding of the needs of individual students; reasons for non-attendance can potentially be seen earlier than had been the case; issues around bullying can be seen and dealt with earlier by referring to tutors and Heads of House. This is a most impressive piece of work by the students engaged in this project. Their maturity and energy to devise develop and maintain the Service they offer is outstanding.
• An opportunity for sharing issues has been created allowing a potential outlet for concerns on the part of the student group at the school.
• Parents/carers have felt the impact of the Service when their children’s issues have been listened to and acted upon allowing attendance and attainment to be regularised.
• The community outside the school has noted a positive change in the perceptions of the work of the school. The school is seen as a positive influence on the lives of the children who attend.
• The incidents of bullying have decreased within the school over the last 2 years. The raising awareness of potential bullying and potential solutions has had the effect of bringing the issues to the attention of all stakeholders. The challenge for the school is to make this a very positive development by fully integrating the work of the Service into the wider support structures already existing.
• Work with Year 6 students from feeder schools has been productive in raising awareness and highlighting potential solutions to resolving issues.
Rationale / Start Point
In our school we have implemented a Peer Listening service which is available to the whole school. Students can come and talk confidentially to a Peer Listener, and problems that students may be facing can be dealt with through a suitable chain of command, and therefore any resolved in a manner that may not have come about if the service was not in place.
Key Strategies
• The school had an `anti-bullying policy’ as part of its ethos of wellbeing and protection for pupils through the ECM agenda.
• This policy has been changed to accommodate the work of the Peer Listeners.
• The Peer Listeners have their own web site which is part of the Clevedon School wider anti-bullying website. The web site explains the Peer Listening Policy and how this is put into practice.
• All policies, whether student, staff or Governor are shared with the Governors, Parents/carers, staff and pupils where appropriate.
• The Student Policy on Bullying is regulated through the Director of Learning, the Senior Management and the Governors.
• Parents/Carers are kept informed of the Policy in practice as it affects them and their children.
Sustainability and Further Development
To look at a process whereby the collation of evidence of work by the Service might be established in order to look at trends and developments ie. Gender needs, Ethnic needs, social needs.