Agenda item - Information from Witnesses

Order of speakers to be confirmed

 

Sussex Police Neighbourhood Schools Officer

 

Children and Young People’s Strategic Commissioner: Alison Nuttall and Community CAMHS: Paul Goodwin

 

Amaze: Janet Poole

 

Beatbullying: (to be confirmed)

 

BMEYPP: Vannessa Crawford

 

Parents’ Forum: Tasha Barefield

 

Safety Net: Den McCartney (Information attached)

 

Summary from Panel Advisor, Prof Robin Banerjee

 

16.1  Neighbourhood Schools officer PC Vicky Jones (VJ) told the Panel that she worked in schools every termtime day, in 32 schools in Hove, primary junior and secondary, state and public schools and delivering a learning package covering crime, internet crime, harassment and assault, designed by Sussex Police. The words ‘ bullying’ and ‘bullied’ were used frequently but in her experience general understanding of the meaning is ‘grey’ and not clear-cut – for example that it involves more than one incident.

 

16.2 VJ was witnessing a ‘huge’ increase in internet bullying but did not know why this was the case. Internet bullying can appear to be victimless though it was not and on-line bullies may feel as if they are unaccountable. It may be that the internet seems disconnected from real life.

 

16.3 There was no especially vulnerable group in her view but bullying seemed to happen if there is a perceived difference. That could be as minor as someone’s favourite TV game show, or just a small breakdown in communication between young people. Many children did not understand the effect they are having on others. There were some serious cases where a young person says they want to take their own life. In one serious case when the catalyst was identified, the matter was very easily fixed. However the young person wanted to keep away from school. The Neighbourhood Schools officer can only be involved when the child is at school. (Staying away from School with or without parental consent is not allowed. This matter is truanting). NSO can only deal with the child at the school where it is happening. This is because once Police interaction has commenced, the situation will need to be tested i.e is the bullying continuing?

 

16.4 Friends and school teachers can and do help prevent bullying and support victims of bullying. Each school had a different approach to achieving the outcome that ‘Bullying has to stop.’

 

16.5 There was a lot of school information available on how to identify bullying and who to report to, why it was important to report bullying. But some young people say they do not want to make it worse by reporting it.

 

16.6 Ways of preventing cyberbullying could include changes such as accessing sites only via payment by debit card and via providing traceable contact details. Some sites can take a long time to ban internet content. There are many useful sites and resources available to deal with internet ‘housekeeping.’  The Safer Internet Centre is particularly helpful.

 

16.7 Answering questions; The Neighbourhood School officer is called in by a school only for serious or severe cases – such as threat of physical violence. This is mostly secondary schools because a child under the age of 10 is not legally responsible and a police officer would not be involved.  Rather than any individual schools being more affected than others, numbers of cases are broadly in line with the numbers of students at the school.

 

16.8 The Neighbourhood School officer liaises with 30 local PCSOs and the Educational Welfare Officer (EWO) and can visit children at home if needed. 16.9 Teachers cannot generally do this but can attend with Police if necessary in extreme circumstances. But to help support a child in the school setting and to guage when bullying has been fully dealt with the child needs to be at school, and the school attendance rate of a bullied child or young person can fall massively.

 

16.10 All Hove schools – the Head Teacher and the PHSE teacher – will know who the Neighbourhood School officer is, and how to contact her. Another Neighbourhood School officer PC Claire Kilroy covers the Brighton area.

 

16.11 The learning session lasts around 20 minutes. It is designed for different age groups and delivered to all students, around 16,500 each year.

 

16.12 If parents/carers call the police this is registered either as an alleged crime or not. An alleged crime would be passed to the police officer for detection/completion.

 

16.13 If no police incident is recorded, a PC could speak to a young person without involving the school; sometimes a school would take up a case if parental consent were given.

 

 

 

16.14 Commissioner for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services; (CAMHS) Alison Nuttall (AN) explained the 4-tiered structure; tiers 1 and 2 community services being provided through the City Council by the third sector and counselling services for identifiable issues that might need intervention. Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust was responsible for both Tier 3 mental health provision and Tier 4 specialist in-patient services.

 

16.15 Paul Goodwin, Community CAMHS (Tier 2 Practice Manager) , told the Panel that the relatively small team of 6 FTE PMHWs (Primary Mental Health Workers) had quite a limited role in bullying with the main role being to provide training to other professionals. The service offers mental health training to schools so that staff can recognise where children and young people might have issues and when they might suggest getting help.

 

16.16 It was important that bullying is recognised. Some bullying, if it is a series of events, can lead to mental health disorder, that it can cause acute emotional stress and significantly affect emotional well-being. Bullying can contribute to people’s mental health but it’s difficult to make a clear connection when other normal life events can also be a main factor.

 

16.17 It was difficult to give data on number of referrals for which bullying was an issue. Around 55% of referrals to CAMHS were from GPs and bullying was not always mentioned.

 

16.18 The team are looking to engage with children and young people eg via workshop on how CAMHS can best help them with bullying issues.

 

16.19 AN said bullying was not a primary presenting issue at the point of referral. It may be one element, and a GP would anecdotally say if bullying could be an issue, for example for children and young people presenting with an anxiety-based disorder.

 

16.20 Data from Dialogue counselling service shows bullying does not feature highly as the ‘first-line’ reason for presenting – it was low overall on the list of reasons for seeking counselling.

 

16.21 Some people mentioning bullying could be acutely distressed, eg with suicide ideation. An urgent risk assessment is undertaken  by T3 CAMHS to help protect as soon as possible from subsequent risk.

 

16.22 Bullying is not routinely included in recorded data; mental health services would not record bullying. Only 10% (48) cases of the 484 cases referred last year to T2, related to a school-based issue, such as attendance. Some of these, an unknown number, would have included bullying.

 

16.23 There are no specific protocols relating to bullying and mental health. Unless it were a child protection matter, CAMHS do not have the right to inform schools about individuals. Parents are always advised to speak to the school about serious issues affecting their child.

 

16.24 Re; approaches to anti-bullying – as the usual way of working, schools already can and do help support children’s general resilience and ability to cope with life events including bullying, that can reduce the impact of bullying. Children and young people can be made more aware of how to respond to events, so they can become less impacted by bullying.

 

16.25 AN said that work with perpetrators is key as working with the victim is only a fraction of the solution. ‘We need to stop those bullying behaviours, work towards eradicating them. That will take years.’

 

16.26 Regarding cyber-bullying – those affected are often attending the same school. There are age limits on the use of sites. Keeping safe on websites is an issue for schools and also for wider society.

 

16.27 There are many sources of support. Work done by Healthy Schools team including the schools survey is very helpful; staff especially PHSE staff can help focus on increasing the resilience of children. Research has shown that mindfulness training can help people to live in the present. Dot Be (stop, breathe and be). Com CAMHS is exploring how to support schools with this approach.

 

16.28 Speakers were asked that, although bullying may not be seen as a primary presenting issue and it can be identified as a contributory issue later; would it be advantageous to inquire about bullying, at the initial stage of referral?

 

16.29 The Panel heard that children and young people will be routinely asked about education. Some had not even told their parents as it can be a hidden issue that can cause a lot of shame.

 

16.30 Replying to questions:

 

Community CAMHS still works with schools, undertaking some of the work of TaMHS (Targetted Mental Health for Schools).

 

16.31 CAMHS does not have a direct role regarding SEN children and young people and bullying. However CAMHS does promote emotional wellbeing through training school staff to help reduce bullying in schools. If a young person and their family wished, CAMHS would help schools eg a session with a class ‘What is it like to be on the autistic spectrum?’

 

16.32 CAMHS is part of a network around children and young people, with consultation, advice and support. Sensitivity is needed as to the best place to support children – a place where they have the strongest relationship can be better than a well-known consultation room, which can sometimes be stigmatising.

 

16.33 Parents can arrange consultations with a school professional if they wish. All schools have named CAMHS worker that offer sessions for parents; this might include bullying. CAMHS does not proactively contact schools. CAMHS can only approach the referrer; needs the referrer’s written permission to contact the school or other professionals. Parents (for under- 16s) are relied on to complete and return the consent form.

 

16.34 Asked about referral times, AN said different targets applied to different Tiers. For Tier 3 the target was 4 weeks. The number of referrals has recently increased to around 3 per week. The service also provides signposting to support services other than emotional health and wellbeing – and aims to be equitable, prioritised by date and urgency. However ‘Tier 2 is a long wait because so many referrals is an issue for us’ and ‘we struggle to see people within the target,’ she said.

 

16.35 The waiting time for Tier 2 was currently 13 weeks.

 

16.36 Asked about a case study that indicated a lack of clarity at the point of referral AN could not discuss individuals but emphasised that dialogue with families was essential and concerns should be raised as soon as possible.

 

16.37 Largest number of referrals were via GPs. Second largest source of referrals are schools. Self-referrals forms and guidelines are available on B&HCC Council Website, from the CAMHS page single point of entry for all tiers. Brighton & Hove is unusual in this - most other local authorities do not accept self-referrals. Parents would be involved for all under-16s and people are encouraged to get advice. Some cases are very individual but help is available.

 

16.38 On behalf of the Panel the Chair thanked all the speakers for presenting their information.

 

16.39 CAMHs  provided further information

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23654329

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-23756749

 

 

 

16.40 Den McCartney, (DM) Manager of the Safety Net Children and Young People team told the Panel that Safety Net had been operational for 17 years. DM referred to the summary paper and spoke to the Panel about their work especially around preventing bullying and working with children with low self-esteem.

 

 16.41 The Safety Net Assertiveness Project (SNAP) for 8 – 16 year olds teaches assertiveness techniques and life skills to children with low self esteem who have experienced bullying. The sessions use Protective Behaviours ,a personal safety programme which includes the delivery of a risk assessment technique called ‘Stop Think and Go’ (STG). Children and young people use this technique to explore how they feel about risky situations and what their options are, followed by exploring the consequences of action they may take. This technique can be applied to victim or bully.

 

16.42 The playground buddying programme also works well as a low level preventative scheme which encourages inclusivity in Primary school playgrounds. Children are taught to recognise when they feel unsafe, how to deal with friendship disputes and report bullying to appropriate adults.

 

16.43 Safety Net has been delivering these programmes for 10 years in most schools in Brighton & Hove and has recently piloted peer mediation training to students in PACA.

 

16.44 From a Safety in Action survey this year of 310 year 6 pupils, the main concerns about to move on to secondary school were reported as; bullying (37%), friendship issues (12.5%) and getting lost (12%)

 

16.45 DM set out the range of programmes offered to schools eg Working with and training bus monitors, Peer listeners, and Rights and responsibilities programme for children and young people who exhibit bullying behaviour.

 

16.46 Answering questions DM said :

 

16.47 There are many types of bullying behaviours. In secondary schools, boys seem more likely to be bullies by behaving physically towards each other. Whereas girls are more likely to be involved in verbal bullying relating to friendship groups. But there is inadequate data available to analyse this from Safety Net. However, we tailor our programmes to address these issues with single sex groups where appropriate.

 

16.48 Re: cyberbullying - It’s as if a message goes straight from the brain to the fingers to reply, with no opportunity to stop, separate out your feelings and think about the impact before responding or sending information/comments. It may be possible to apply the Stop Think Go technique in conjunction with other approaches to cyber bullying,we are exploring how successful this would be. Safety Net will encourage Children and Young People to apply their social responsibility to be kind, and keep others safe on-line as you would do face-to-face.

 

16.49 There is a lot of parental anxiety about cyberbullying. Safety Net does not have the answer – possibly no-one does - but the organisation is exploring how to deal with cyber bullying though our work with children as the experts. More work will take place on this in the run up to anti bullying week.

 

16.50 Re ability of schools to carry out antibullying work and sustain it, DM said Safety Net worked with schools closely in partnership with other organisations such as Allsorts, Young Carers. The SNAP stand-alone model would need a whole school model with training for staff in order to be sustainable across a whole school. Safety Net has designed a whole-school model but will need schools to commit to this approach and to fund it in future, she said.

 

16.51 The SAWSS - optional for schools to take part in - was a ‘fantastic’ resource with the city-wide information (not individual schools’ information) being shared. In her view DM said she did not feel that schools would be totally resistant to share their individual data on bullying, especially if schools were aware of the benefits of the available packages to deal with it.

 

16.52 However, it would be more useful if Safety Net were given information about schools who would benefit from our approach rather than waiting to be approached by them. Often the schools we work with are those who are ahead of the game and have approached us for help rather than those who have many other issues that take priority.

 

16.53 DM said Safety Net needed to report back to their funders so evaluation of schemes like playground buddies, therefore evaluation of the impact of the schemes upon children in the playground and those who have attended SNAP would be ‘amazing’ she said. There are schemes that can be shown to work but ‘We need to get that information’ she said.

 

16.54 Safety Net forwarded suggestions for recommendations, as follows:

 

 

·         Have a network of Children and Young People from different back grounds to work together on child friendly definitions of bullying which can be distributed across the city (Including Cyber bullying).

·        Schools to work with children to re-write their anti- bullying policy in a way that will be understood by children and parents. Examples of good practice from Safety Net have included our Participation worker working with a group of children to produce the St Marks KIDSAFE manual which explains about the Right to Feel safe and how the school supports children with this.

·        A parallel piece of work took place with parents who produced a booklet called “Safe and Happy” for other parents including tips on how their children are kept safe at school, how the school deals with bullying and supportive schemes such as Playground Buddies that operate within the school.

·        Focus on the Right to Feel and Be safe, children are entitled to this under the UN Convention of the rights of the child and it is well documented throughout the Protective Behaviours programme.

·        Encourage discussions about responsibility with young people.

·        We think that discussions with parents about the contradictory advice that children are sometimes given by parents about how to respond to bullying would be advantageous. E.g, a  programme aimed at challenging the “Hit them back!” whilst offering supportive alternatives for parents to explore with their children.

·        Continue to offer work on developing children’s self -esteem and confidence. We carry out role play exercises for children to explore how it feels to make assertive statements and how to present assertively even if they do not feel confident.

·        Also teaching methods such as Stop Think Go as a discussion based approach to scenarios that might arise, this helps children to explore the options they have in advance and feel safer about taking them if they need to.

·        We have found that a vast proportion of the children we work with have been bullied in the past and are therefore more vulnerable to future attacks. These children need to encounter positive activities to boost their self-esteem and to demonstrate to them that they have the skills and confidence to deal with it if it occurs again.

·        Cyber bullying-Safety Net is exploring how to deliver sessions to address this.We have a series of sessions which have been researched and piloted with a group of young people from Hove Park and we intend to add these on to our existing SNAP sessions as modules.

·        Anti Bullying Week-The future is ours,safe,fun and connected-The CYP Team have decided to focus on three key moral codes to apply to e-safety;

·        Be Kind online-to address trolling and forwarding on unkind images and comments.

·        Be aware of what you share-to explore how to limit personal information that children and young people provide about themselves.

·        What makes a good friend? Explore how children/young people safely gain approval or comments from others (e.g Ask F.M) but also encourage them to be aware of who they are asking for support/approval from? How can you tell online that a person has your best interests at heart? Who would you put on your network of support/helping hand and how would they differ from online “friends”.

·        Promote the use of cyber mentors and reporting mechanisms for use when you are being bullied or see/read something that feels uncomfortable for you online.

·        Safety Net will encourage schools in Brighton and Hove to ask children and young people to take part in an online survey about e-safety in the months leading up to ABW. This will explore how children are accessing sites,which sites children and young people use and whether they feel they have been exposed to things that made them feel bullied, unsafe or uncomfortable as well as whether they reported it online or spoke to an adult they know.

·        We will explore digital footprints with a SNAP steering group who will produce a postcard with top tips on how to limit the information children display about themselves online.

·        Our Secondary school worker will be running a Young Ambassador training with Young People who will support our work in Primary schools on E-safety.He will also run sessions on Facebook settings and sexting.

·        Our Bullying prevention worker will work with the Peer Support Forum to discuss mobile phone safety and how to deal with unkind texts.

·        Safet Net is taking part in a training session with David Wright ,E-Safety Consultant for South West Grid for Learning who has responsibility for the safety provision across the regional broadband infrastructure as well as supporting the 15 South West Local Authorities, 2,500 schools and 700,000 children with regards online safety. We will use this session to further develop our knowledge in this area and add to our plans for sessions aimed at supporting Children,Young People,Parents and Schools with cyber safety. 

 

 

16.55 Tasha Barefield (TB) Development Coordinator of the Parents’ Forum, explained that this was a voluntary organisation run by volunteers and supported by Brighton & Hove City Council to involve parents.

 

16.56 The Parents’ Forum had carried out an on-line and face-to-face survey for this Panel during the summer and conducted interviews for case studies (method and findings set out in paper attached).

 

16.57 Regarding  how well parents perceived the school dealt with bullying, and the difference in perception between primary and secondary school (question 3.5) - it was felt that at Primary school, pupils have more face-to-face contact with school staff so that issues could be ‘nipped in the bud’ earlier, possibly; whereas at secondary school level, clear lines of communication on sensitive issues, would be less likely and children maybe not properly listened to. Parents had commented on the lack of a feedback process to the child or parent who had reported bullying.

 

16.58 It was found that even if a student was not themselves online before the age of 13, friends were receiving messages about them and passing them on. Nearly half the survey respondents felt they did not have enough information about cyberbullying.

 

16.59 Leaflets about bullying were reported not to be accessible/useful to children and families who needed them.

 

16.60 Conclusions of the survey and suggested next steps were:

 

- How to ensure parents have helpful and timely information about bullying in a format suited to them.

- Specifically more information and training for parents is needed about cyberbullying

 

-When bullying is reported, then thorough and timely feedback and communication is critical.

 

16.61 TB was accompanied by a parent (A), of four children, who gave moving accounts of racial harassment and bullying in school. ‘A’ worked with children families and friends experiencing bullying, especially around racism. For example, ‘A’ shares anti-bullying/harassment strategies with peer groups so that friends can support each other, and with other parents so that they can take up the case. She said extreme racism was on the increase. Racial bullying can be continual; it affects parents and families as well as the child.

 

16.62 ‘A’ gave examples:

 

-         traumatic repeat telephone calls and incidents lasting all through from year 7 – year 11. The parent went to the Racial Harrassment Team who listened well. But the bullying/harassment didn’t stop. Child and family were ‘exhausted’ trying to deal with it and the child’s education was affected.

-         In year 6 – being called names and being ganged up against

-         Bullying was noticed by a teacher but the child was not  listened to

-         Child was punched in the stomach. No action taken because the teacher said ‘the victim was annoying’

-         Parent tried to liaise with the school about an instagram from another child, but there was no reply from the police, from schools or parents of the perpetrator.

-         Parent of victim was sworn at by other parents

 

16.63 The Panel heard that the process for dealing with a complaint was first via the school, then if needed on to the local authority and finally to the Department for Education. Parents can be referred to Mosaic. A complaint about a teacher should go to the Head teacher.

 

16.64 There were cases where a victim had suffered bullying for a whole year, was not given support, then retaliated and was given a detention or exclusion.

 

16.65 ‘A’ said unlike some parents she was able to be assertive and articulate. ‘A’ did help Mosaic on a voluntary basis where needed and by word of mouth including on appeals procedures. Mosaic did not currently have the funding to resource the unmet need of parent advocacy in supporting the increasing numbers of victims of racism within the school/community environments she said. ‘I work with all communities and groups other than BME. I can’t leave parents to go through what we’ve been through, on their own ‘.

 

16.66 The Panel advisor referred to case studies that reflected frustration; and asked about the process for providing a solution if the school could not help.

 

16.67 TB highlighted the range of organisations in the City who can advise on specific issues. She said she thought bullying was under-reported. Bullying affects the whole family and reduces everyone’s ability to function. Parents often did not know where to go for help and had limited energy to take complaints forward. Parents could ‘have a fight to get heard.’ Parents could write to the Chair of Governors. Head Teachers seemed ‘far away.’ Children and parents usually did not want to make a name for themselves; did not want to be different.

 

16.68 Some children did have supportive teachers and schools, friends and family who were trusted to talk to them. Primary schools seemed more accessible, and being smaller it was easier to get an appointment with the head teacher.

 

16.69 A teacher or head of year would tend to be protective about the school. So in her view secondary schools needed a ‘middle road’ – an independent guide with leaflet/website/contact details – to support children and families who had ‘been to the end and back.’

 

16.70 A parent advocate and easy-to-access guide for parents would be excellent to help advise where to get information, what to do/who to talk to.

 

16.71 TB said she was interested to find out more about cyberbullying workshops for parents, referred to at the 1 July Panel meeting.

 

 

 

16.72 Janet Poole of Amaze reminded the panel that all local authorities were required to keep a register of children with significant disabilities and special needs. Brighton & Hove City Council had outsourced this to Amaze who maintained a helpline and database and a worker (who also liaises with leisure providers to give discounts to encourage people to provide informed data.)

 

16.73 JP said that children and young people expect to be bullied – it is part of their life, and very distressing. For children with special educational needs and those on the autistic spectrum, they almost have an expectation to be targeted. It’s done in subtle ways.

 

16.74 The Compass database included a field – ‘has your child been bullied?’ Some schools were overrepresented regarding bullying. Special schools had a higher proportion of children and young people who say they have been bullied; not only in schools. East Brighton and Moulesecoomb wards included disadvantaged areas. These wards were over-represented on the Compass database and regarding higher numbers of those reporting bullying.

 

16.75 This could reflect the precedence of children with SEN in those areas, some living with family breakdown or poverty and experiencing day to day stresses. Amaze looks to reach children and families in disadvantaged areas.

 

16.76 JP said she provided educational support, helping parents/ carers to be heard and providing independent arms length impartial advice to parents on education and support parents at meetings. Amaze aims to empower parents especially those who’ve not had a good experience at school. For some, the move to secondary school is ‘crunch time.’

 

16.77 JP gave some moving examples of children who had been bullied and how they could be supported. She said that anyone can be vulnerable to being bullied. ‘Schools must not close ranks’ and ‘parents must be listened to.’

 

16.78 Commenting on the presentation from CAMHS commissioner, JP said ‘ CAMHS is excellent at referring children to Amaze.’

 

16.79 The Panel advisor referred to reported bullying in the age range for  11- 16 which typically is the time when psychologically you feel you have to ‘fit in’

 

16.80 Asked what would be Amaze ‘wish list’ JP replied:

- parents to be listened to

- parents to be believed

- parents’ accounts taken seriously

- cases to be handled sensitively as individual accounts can be disturbing

 

16.81 Overall JP said she wished for targeted support for children and young people with additional needs who experience or who at risk of bullying.

 

 

16.82 Vannessa Crawford (VC) of BMEYPP told the Panel of the organisation’s work against racism and its support for Black, Asian and Mixed Parentage children and young people aged 11 – 25. BME provides activities and projects and responds to the stated needs of young people, give direct support to help them find solutions for their issues. The BMEYPP has a drop in services and sports projects, volunteering, and community events, works in schools and provides homework support and mentoring for example. The BMEYPP directly helps around 150 – 200 young people per year.

 

16.83 BMEYPP aims to develop positive relationships, and consults both formally and informally with young people. ‘Young people can talk to us about any issue’ said VC.

 

16.84 The Schools project was set up because during a consultation event, young people stated that they wanted more support in schools to deal with issues such as racism and bullying that they were experiencing. ‘Their number 1 issues were school and bullying and it’s hard to separate one from another. These issues can take precedence and badly affect academic aspirations and learning. Schools don’t necessarily have the skills to deal with these impacts’ said VC. 

 

16.86 We run a programme of 10 weekly sessions working with a group of BME young people, using developmental groupwork to explore issues such as culture and identity, race and racism, Black History and role models.

 

16.87 Young people’s experiences ranged from casual to severe bullying, namecalling, racist jokes, mimicking and making assumptions. There seemed to be an increase in Islamophobic incidents (directed at Muslim and non Muslim young people).

 

16.88 VC gave an example of racist name-calling by a whole class that the teacher did not understand. ‘Advice and help needs to be more creative’ she said.

 

16.89 There are multiple forms of bullying behaviour. BME children and young people have multiple identities; eg may have disabilities or additional needs, may be gay or lesbian.

 

16.90 Often young people did not want to report bullying and racism as they do not feel they will be believed, and do not think that the issue will be dealt with properly. But where they have a positive relationship with a member of staff, a teacher or a counsellor they are more likely to report it.

 

16.91 In her view, VC said a problem was that teachers are subjected to stereotypes in the media. Teachers then stereotype the young person and consequently the young person does not feel that the teacher will support them.

 

16.92 Even if racism or bullying is sometimes dealt with, such as by excluding a pupil, ‘Most times that does not stop bullying in future,’ she said.

 

16.93 A BME young person can be subjected to extra bureaucratic processes, eg having to write down exactly what happened whereas other young people only need to give a verbal account.

 

16.94 VC heard reports of staff witnesses to a racial incident, who did nothing, and staff who ignored racist statements.  If action is taken she said ‘It’s BME young people who are the ones who get punished, and more severely punished, too.’

 

16.95 BME young people can experience being blamed for being a victim, for example can be told they would be more accepted by the white majority if they did not speak with such an accent. A young man experiencing racism and homophobia was told to ‘man up.’

 

16.96 Generally teachers and staff have no understanding of race and racism. Often they think they can’t use the word ‘Black’ in front of us. People should be confident. Children don’t feel able to acknowledge the identity of their BME peers. This is because of media stereotypes and is unacceptable in our educational system.

 

16.97 Looking at who are the staff in school; teachers and governors are almost always white, and cleaners are often BME.

 

16.98 The school curriculum did not properly recognise BME achievements. Sessions or films on slavery were not put in context, so that later in the playground a young person would be referred to as a slave. Black History Day might include Martin Luther King but was not really talked about. Discussions on different faiths and festivals can give more ammunition for ‘taking the mickey.’

 

16.99 These examples did little to develop BME self-esteem and appreciation of culture.

 

16.100 VC reported that BME young people want racism and bullying to stop and they think if bullies understood the harm that it does, then it would stop. BME young people also want white people to learn more about anti-bullying that is much more than celebrating diversity, she said.

 

16.101 Young people do not have an understanding of their relationships with other people. ‘Don’t say that’ is not enough of a response.

 

16.102 Some BME young people can ‘toughen up,’ become more aggressive in response to being bullied; ‘I’m going to do it to them before they do it to me’

 

16.103 Schools should acknowledge that racism and racist bullying does go on. Brighton & Hove is seen as a tolerant place and that is true. However people seem ‘blind’ to the problem of racism and because of lack of confidence would rather ignore it than challenge it.

 

16.104 There can be positive outcomes. A young woman who had a good relationship with her teacher reported racist bullying. The teacher asked ‘what would you like to happen in response’ - and that happened. That shows she was listened to, and it worked.

 

16.105 Answering questions:

 

BMEYPP does not work directly with individual white young people. The organisation has organised events for the wider non BME communities such as football tournaments to promote ‘kick racism out of football’, social parties for young people and communities events for Black History Month and to celebrate Eid.   This year 3 secondary schools have been visited in this way, so around 40 non-BME young people are reached annually at school.

 

16.106 Some schools have asked for staff training and awareness classes for non BME young people We could develop a good model as BME young people would be involved in delivering and leading these. However we would need to be funded to take this work forward.

 

16.107 BME young people talk about their support – this is an issue for them. BMEYPP would consider taking on more of an advocacy role independent of statutory organisations and schools if this could be properly resourced. The benefits are that the BMEYPP is experienced at working with BME young people, our workers are skilled at developing relationships and encouraging young people to talk to them about a range of issues, and young people assume that our workers understand their issues because they are BME themselves. The BMEYPP would be able to develop appropriate training, support and supervision for advocates to be able to work within the schools settings.

 

16.108 BME young people do find us but we have not produced much promotion or publicity. It’s a capacity issue. We are making up information packs so that schools, the third sector and others know we are here and how we work. But we have to be clear – we cannot fulfil every need and if we publicise too much we could get more demand  than we can deal with.’

 

16.109 On behalf of the Panel the Chair thanked all the speakers for presenting their information.

 

16.110  Panel Advisor Professor Banerjee gave a summary of the main points

 

a) There is an array of good local support to assist schools with bullying, with guidance and intervention provided by a wide range of organisations and services (e.g., Healthy Schools team, Sussex Police, CAMHS, Safety Net, Amaze, Mosaic, BMEYPP  etc.).

 

b) Thus, there is already a great deal of good work in schools, ably supported by the Council’s Healthy Schools team and by Primary Mental Health Workers. The key challenge now is to nurture and foster this work and spread it throughout the schools.

 

c) As well as the strong preventative programmes that already exist, it will be crucial to develop good signposting for schools, young people, and families to get support with any ongoing bullying-related problems.

 

d) There seems to be a gap in advocacy and guidance for young people and their parents to navigate their way through the support system when bullying is taking place.  This is especially important for cases that are entrenched or even escalating.  It is important to recognise that this needs to be present both in the context of families’ interactions with schools, and in community contexts (e.g., for youth and sports groups, and for families where children are not attending school).

 

e) Good practice includes:  a) clear channels of communication, especially in large secondary schools; b) creating a culture of openness, listening, and believing that is well communicated across the school community; c) having effective policies for responding to bullying incidents that reach across the entire school so that all staff have a consistent approach; d) providing high-quality feedback to young people and the parents on actions taken to address bullying; and e) making anti-bullying work prominent and explicit, rather than just assuming that anti-bullying policies are being implemented.

 

16.111 On behalf of the Panel the Chair thanked all the speakers for presenting their information.