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Bullying

Some forms of bullying are illegal and should be reported to the police. These include:
  • violence or assault
  • theft
  • repeated harassment or intimidation, for example name calling, threats and abusive phone calls, emails or text messages
  • hate crimes
If you’re reporting cyberbullying, keep a record of the date and time of the calls, emails or texts - don’t delete any messages that have been received.

Bullying in or outside a school

Bullying in a school
If you need to make a complaint about bullying that has happened at school, you will need to:
  • See if you can solve the problem with the school informally. If this does not work,
  • Follow the school’s complaints procedure. This should be on the schools website.
  • If your complaint is not resolved you will need to write to the school governing body.
Bullying outside of school
Head teachers have the legal power to make sure pupils behave outside of school premises (state schools only). This includes bullying that happened anywhere off the school premises, for example:
  • on public transport
  • on the child's way from or to home
  • in a town centre.
If the bullying is from others and not children attending your child's school you will need to contact the police.
Other organisations that can help
  • Department of Educations role. You need to complete the school’s complaints procedure before you complain to DfE, unless one of the following applies:
    • a child is not getting an education
    • a child has been exposed to harm
    • the school is stopping you from following its complaints procedure