School Council have been thinking about the issue of “bullying” this term, and talking to their classmates about this.

At North Lakes School, we define bullying as behaviour that harms people, that is repeated, and deliberate. A single incident may be nasty but it is not bullying - the children remember this using the bullying acronym “STOP”- which stands for “several times on purpose”.

We all agree that bullying is wrong. It can be verbal, physical, gossiping, texting or online “cyber bullying” – whatever form it takes, we must stand up to it.

We have thought about the reasons people use to bully others. Sometimes this is because of abilities or disabilities, because of gender or life choices, because of family reasons, looks, race or background. We know at North Lakes that everyone is unique, everyone is valued and there is never an excuse for bullying.

Part of our school rule to “Keep People Safe”, says that we will be a “defender not a bystander”. If we think we have seen any bullying we know we must report it to an adult at school or home. In assemblies we have been learning how we can help to stand up to bullying, by talking to the victim, “scooping up” the victim, or even talking the bully down, if that feels safe.

School Council have discussed this in their meetings and they believe that there is not a problem with bullying at North Lakes. There is so much positive behaviour in school and so many excellent “defenders”, children and adults - BUT we must never relax. School Council have been asking their classmates about this and we always encourage everyone to speak up, and speak out if they ever feel unsafe. Thank you for all your support in keeping North Lakes a safe and happy school!