All schools should do what they can to prevent bullying happening, and to quickly and effectively deal with any incidents that arise. They should also provide support to pupils who are struggling with bullying to deal with the impact this is having on their learning and wellbeing.

It’s expected that schools will have their own anti-bullying policies that set out how they’ll do this focused on prevention, response and inclusivity. These policies should be based on the national guidance, Respect for All: The national approach to anti-bullying 2024. This guidance applies to all types of schools and nurseries, including independent schools.

The guidance recommends schools take the following steps when responding to bullying:

Step 1: Create a culture where children, young people, family members and staff feel empowered to report bullying incidents, sharing clear information on how to report an incident and the process that follows.

Step 2: Once an incident or concern is reported, it should be logged on the school’s recording system as soon as possible, ideally within 3 working days. If there is an element of prejudice based bullying behaviour, it should always be noted on the system when logging the report.

Step 3: An investigation should then take place. This should be done with a compassionate approach, considering the impact the incident may have had on the health and wellbeing on the child or young person involved. The National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland 2021 (updated 2023) makes it clear that the staff involved must be competent and confident in carrying out their responsibilities for safeguarding and promoting children’s wellbeing.

Step 4: The school should then respond to the incident, considering how to support the child or young person experiencing the bullying behaviour, and the person displaying this behaviour, to prevent it happening in the future. The school should assess the child’s wellbeing using the Getting It Right For Every Child (GIRFEC) framework and National Practice Model. The school can also put a wellbeing plan in place for the children and young people involved.

Step 5: The school should then monitor all bullying incidents, as this can be used to find trends which can help the school prevent and respond to bullying incidents.

Prejudice-based bullying is negative behaviour towards a child or young person’s disability, race, religion, sexuality or gender identity or other characteristics of a child’s identify or circumstances. This could include bullying a child because of their additional support needs.

The Equality Act 2010 protects children and young people with protected characteristics from discrimination, victimisation and harassment.

It’s expected that schools specifically commit to challenge all types of ‘prejudice-based’ bullying and language. They must take a reactive and proactive approach to address this type of bullying and prevent it happening, including ensuring that schools have policies aimed at creating inclusive environments which prevent and respond to bullying.

When responding to a report of prejudice-based bullying behaviour, the school should directly address the prejudice that motivated the bullying behaviour, challenging the route cause. This can be done by working with the child or young person who displayed the challenging behaviour, supporting them to recognise the harm their behaviour causes. The school should also offer support to the person who reported the behaviour and the child or young person who experienced the bullying behaviour.

When recording the incident, the school should record any potential underlying prejudice, or elements of discrimination, including details of any protected characteristics.

The school must also take your child’s additional support needs into account in the way they handle any bullying-related issues. For example, in how they interpret what has happened, the impact this may have on your child, and in what steps they take to address it.

Advice for parents /

Equality rights

Schools and nurseries must treat all pupils fairly and with respect. Treating pupils fairly may not mean treating everyone in exactly the same way. Schools and nurseries may need to

Online bullying can have a very serious impact on a child or young person’s wellbeing. Because of this, schools must take a ‘whole school approach’ in supporting their pupil’s awareness of safe and respectful use of digital devices, with an aim to create an anti-bullying culture.

Online bullying should be responded to with the same level of seriousness as any other form of offline bullying. This form of bullying could take place anywhere online, such as social media, messaging platforms, gaming forums, and mobile devices.

If online bullying is impacting the wellbeing and learning of children and young people, schools must support them, regardless of where the bullying took place. If the bullying involves illegal activity, schools must also escalate this through their own child protection procedure and the police should be informed.

Firstly, don’t panic. Children and young people often do not tell adults because they are scared they will over-react and make the situation worse. Remain calm and listen, without judgement or interrupting, while your child explains what is going on. This will reassure your child that you are taking them seriously.

Whatever next steps you take, it is important to involve your child. Exploring options together can help your child feel valued, and listening to them will help you to understand what support they need.

Remember, there is never one answer when it comes to bullying. It may be that your child does not want to do anything – sometimes, it helps just to have told someone. If you do feel that you need to inform your child’s school, make sure to talk with your child and explain why.

You should start by talking with your child’s school about your concerns. You could ask for a meeting with the additional support for learning lead at your child’s school, or your child’s head of year.

At the meeting, you could share with them your concerns about how bullying is affecting your child’s learning. You could share your child’s views about the situation, too. You can ask the school what support is in place to help manage and resolve the bullying and ask whether different or additional support is needed to help your child feel safe at school.

Hopefully, this will help your child to get the support they need, but there are further steps you can take if you need to. These are explained on our Solving problems with school page

Advice for parents /

Working with school and solving problems

A positive relationship with your child’s can help make sure your child gets the support they need. Read on for advice about building and maintaining good relationships and avoiding disagreements.

It can feel daunting to approach your child’s school, but remember, it is in everyone’s best interests to try and resolve the situation. It’s also important to talk to your child about what steps you are going to take and to keep them informed about what is happening.

We would recommend taking the following steps:

Remember, not all bullying situations will be able to be resolved at a first meeting. Sometimes, it might take time for the school to investigate what’s happening, or to put in place strategies to respond to the bullying. While this is happening, make sure to focus on your child and what you can do to support their wellbeing in the meantime.

Advice for parents /

Working with school and solving problems

A positive relationship with your child’s can help make sure your child gets the support they need. Read on for advice about building and maintaining good relationships and avoiding disagreements.

If your child is experiencing bullying behaviour, the school should take a child-centred approach, by actively listening to your child, and taking them seriously, with an aim to understand the impact the behaviour is having on them. Your child should also be reassured that the bullying is not their fault.

The school should use the GIRFEC National Practice Model as guidance when supporting your child and when carrying out a wellbeing assessment. This is where the school will work with your child get an understanding of them individually and explore the impact the behaviour has had on all aspects of their life. The school must always keep your child’s additional support needs in mind.

Together your child, you, and the school can then build a wellbeing plan that will meet their needs. This can include finding ways to enhance your child’s self-esteem and feel safe in school. For example, this may include wellbeing sessions with a teacher, or input from a counselling service. Support should always be reviewed and updated when needed.

If your child is displaying the bullying behaviour, the school should also be offering support to them through a wellbeing assessment. The school can work with your child to help them understand the root cause that drove them to display this behaviour, and the impact that it has on others. They could help your child repair and build positive relationships with their peers and offer support for any unmet need that might be causing the behaviour.

It can be difficult and frustrating if you feel that your child’s school are not doing enough to deal with bullying. It is important to know that there are steps that you can take.

First, it may help to have another meeting with your child’s class or guidance teacher. Sometimes it can be hard for children and young people to share how they are feeling while at school, and they find it easier to be more open with their feelings at home, so you may be more aware of the impact bullying behaviour is still having on your child. This is why it’s important to work with the school by sharing the reasons why you are still concerned and ask what further steps or support can be put in place to help your child. Remember to focus on the impact that the bullying is having on your child’s wellbeing. You might also find it helpful to read our infographic, I’m not happy with how my child’s school is responding to bullying.

Following this, if you continue to have concerns, your next step would be to ask to speak with the head teacher. You could ask for a meeting with them to discuss what strategies are in place to support your child, and share your understanding and concerns about the steps that have been taken (or not taken) so far.

Beyond this, there are further steps that you can take. You can escalate your concerns beyond your child’s school to your local authority. These steps are explained on our webpage Solving problems with school. However, it is important to remember that escalation in this way may not immediately bring support to your child. Sometimes, it can be better to focus on building relationships and working with your child’s school to reach a way forward.

Advice for parents /

Working with school and solving problems

A positive relationship with your child’s can help make sure your child gets the support they need. Read on for advice about building and maintaining good relationships and avoiding disagreements.

Bullying behaviour is not in itself a crime, but some behaviour can be viewed as criminal behaviour.

Some examples of criminal behaviour would be if your child experienced physical behaviour where there is an intent to cause harm, or sexual behaviour where your child felt pressurised to do something or is touched inappropriately.

It is not the school’s responsibility to decide whether the behaviour is or is not criminal, however if they feel that a crime may have occurred, they should seek immediate support from Police Scotland. If this step is not taken by the school and you feel that it could be criminal behaviour, you can report it to the police yourself while continuing to work with the school in building support for your child.

Hate crime and prejudice-based incidents 

In some cases, bullying behaviour may constitute a hate crime or hate incident. This is when behaviour is motivated by prejudice related to any of the legally protected characteristics, such as disability, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or transgender identity. 

If adults suspect a hate crime has occurred, it should be reported immediately to Police Scotland. Schools should follow National Guidance for Child Protection procedures and work with other key relationships around the child to ensure the safety and wellbeing of children and young people. 

Reporting hate crime or hate incidents 

Parents, carers and children or young people may not always feel able to report a hate crime directly to the police. This may be due to a range of reasons, such as lack of trust or previous negative experiences with the police. 

If you do not wish to report directly to the police, third-party reporting is available. Third-party reporting centres are organisations that are not the police and can support individuals to report a hate crime or hate incident, passing information to Police Scotland on their behalf if the person wishes. 

If you are comfortable reporting directly to the police, hate crimes or hate incidents can also be reported online to Police Scotland. 

For further information regarding how to report a hate crime, please visit Police Scotland’s page Reporting hate crime. 

Scottish Government Guidance

Our website links to education laws, guidance and policies including Scottish Government guidance related to bullying.

respectme

respectme is Scotland’s national anti-bullying service providing information on what to do if you think your child is being bullied, or you learn that they are bullying someone else.

Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO)

The SPSO can consider complaints against local authorities if you have exhausted the local authority’s own complaints procedures.

Let’s Talk ASN

Let’s Talk ASN is the national free advocacy and legal support service for anyone who has the right to make a reference to the Additional Support Needs Tribunal. The service is run by the Govan Law Centre and Barnardo’s Scotland, and is funded by the Scottish Government.

Additional Support Needs Tribunal

The full name of the Additional Support Needs Tribunal is ‘the Additional Support Needs jurisdiction of the Health and Education Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland’. The Tribunal website has information and guidance for parents, carers, young people and children about making a reference or claim.