To enable every individual regardless of ability to achieve their full potential, to prepare for future life and to become life long learners, developing a thirst for learning and to become good citizens equipped for the challenges of the 21st century.

Our motto is -             It’s fun to learn   

The values that underpin this vision can be set out under the following headings.

To Develop An Understanding Of Self

Each child should

• Develop an appreciation and awareness of self
• Become independent learners and thinkers
• Achieve their fullest potential regardless of their ability
• Have high personal expectations of work and behaviour
• Have a positive attitude towards their own learning
• Show a healthy attitude to living an active life through sport and other recreational activities

To Develop An Understanding Of Relationships

Each child should

• Care for others
• Show mutual respect and tolerance for spiritual and cultural diversity
• Understand the importance of learning together as a team

To Develop An Understanding Of Society

Each child should endeavour to become

• Good citizens
• Effective and constructive members of the community
• Able to appreciate and celebrate their own and others success
• Valuable members of the school community

To Develop An Understanding Of The Environment

Each child should

• Appreciate the learning environment of the school
• Be safe and cared for in a stimulating learning environment
• Appreciate and respect the environment of the school

Through exposure to a wide range of teaching and learning experiences, pupils will achieve their full potential as independent, THINKING learners. Relevant, enjoyable and enriching activities will develop their thirst for life-long learning.

As a school our belief is that every child deserves to succeed regardless of his or her ability.

Bullying in this school is defined as patterns of behaviour that involve one or more children being unkind to one or more others on an ongoing basis. The form of the unkindness can be in the form of physical or mental/emotional abuse.  It is a feature of all children’s behaviour in all schools throughout the world.  It is an important element in children’s school learning both in and out of school that they know how to stop picking on other people and how to stop other children bullying them.  For this reason, any incident of this kind that are reported or observed at Oldfield, is dealt with immediately and is taken very seriously.

Our Anti-Bullying policy does support the Whole School Approach Food Policy, and Healthy Schools status.  It also supports ‘Every Child Matters’ and the Five desired outcomes.

Any bullying related to weight, food or sexual orientation issues will be dealt with in line with any other form of bullying.

Some facts are taken into consideration:

• Bullies usually operate in a covert manner and staff must be observant and diligent in their observations of children, especially during playtimes and lunchtimes.

• Research shows that, once a child has been bullied, he/she will usually be bullied again, so teaching pupils who are the subject of bullying how to cope in future such incidents is vital.

• The same research also shows that bullies often return to bullying, it being a pattern of behaviour that they fall back on all through their lives.

• Bullies and bullied usually suffer from low personal self-esteem. The behaviour is a symptom of this and the underlying problem needs addressing alongside attempts to alter behaviour.

• Parents of Bullies and Bullied must be involved at all stages.

• The whole school should be involved in a ‘caring citizens’ way to prevent incidents from occurring often and escalating unpleasantly.  All pupils must know that they have a responsibility to tell an appropriate adult about any behaviour they think may be bullying.

• All staff have a responsibility to act quickly, sensitively and appropriately in all cases.  It can be difficult to spot the real case of bullying, in amongst tale telling, but repeated tales from the same children or about the same children should alert staff to the situation.  Bullied children have nearly always told their teacher, adult supervisor or a parent several times before a major incident occurs.  Adults around the child should listen carefully and be alert to anything that is beginning to sound serious.

When any cases of bullying come to light in the school the class teacher is usually the first to hear or observe it.  He/she should listen to all sides of the story being told by those children concerned and should decide if it is a situation they can deal with or whether it is more serious than a small temporary ‘tiff’ between children which should be reported to the Head and a record will be kept.

The Head will then interview all concerned and decide the severity of the situation. if it is deemed to be serious in fact, they will ask to see all the parents of the children concerned and counsel them as to how best to deal with their child and the situation now and in future.  Best practice shows the head, parents and child discussing the matter together, showing how very serious the adults around that child, take the incident.

The bullied child should be reminded that

a)    All people are equal and different, and no one is correct if they try to ‘rubbish’ another person in any way.

b)    Bullies are often people who feel bad about themselves and they are only behaving in this way to try to make themselves feel strong and important, they often do not really want to cause injury or distress.

c)    Bullies must be caught and stopped ALWAYS.

d)    The best way to stop them is usually to tell the appropriate adult, usually their parents or the Headteacher of their school. Hitting back or retaliating in any way usually causes the situation to become worse and for the bullied child to be implicated as well as the bully.

e)    When they grow up they will also meet people who try to bully.  It is important to remember what to do: try to stay out of their way, remain polite and respectful, tell someone in a position of authority or someone who can deal with the situation.  This person will usually be a parent or the Headteacher.

f)     The parents of the bullied child should be made aware of ways in which they can improve their child’s self esteem, finding activities that allow them to excel and to be more assertive.

The Bully should be reminded that:

a)    All people are equal and different and no one has the right to hurt or be-little someone else.

b)    Strong people have to be careful to use their strength kindly and in a gentle manner, never to hurt or abuse another person.

c)    Bullies are always caught and punished in this school because it is serious and very damaging behaviour.

d)    They are punished.

e)    The parents of the bully should be made aware of ways they can help the school to improve the self esteem of their child, to find activities that will allow their child to excel and not feel so low in self-esteem and to look for ways in which the child can be encouraged to help and care for others.

If/when bullying continues after an incident has been dealt with in this way, the Head will see all parties again for discussions, a more serious punishment will be implemented.  The bullied child/children will be advised that they must not be alone in any situations at school, but always have a friend with them to report and support their friend if attacked again.  All the children in the school should be advised that they must be on the lookout for the bully and should advise staff or parents if they see any signs of it again.

Situations of this kind happen rarely at Oldfield fortunately, but it is important that everyone in and around the school is well aware of the serious nature of bullying.  It can wreck a child’s school life, their education and their ability to relate to others in later life if left unattended to.

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