The purpose and scope of this policy statement:
West End MT works with children as part of its activities. These include: Musical Theatre training

The purpose of this policy statement is:
• to prevent bullying from happening in our organisation
• to make sure bullying is stopped as soon as possible if it does happen and that those involved receive the support they need
• to provide information to all staff, volunteers, children and their families about what we should all do to prevent and deal with bullying.

This policy statement applies to anyone working on behalf of West End MT, including senior managers and the board of trustees, paid staff, volunteers, sessional workers, agency staff and students.

What is bullying?
Bullying includes a range of abusive behaviour that is repeated or intended to hurt someone either physically or emotionally .

This policy has been drawn up on the basis of legislation, policy and guidance that seeks to protect children in the UK.

The NSPCC provides summaries of the key legislation and guidance on:
• bullying learning.nspcc.org.uk/child-abuse-and-neglect/bullying
• online abuse learning.nspcc.org.uk/child-abuse-and-neglect/online-abuse • child protection learning.nspcc.org.uk/child-protection-system

We believe that:
• children and young people should never experience abuse of any kind
• we have a responsibility to promote the welfare of all children and young people, to keep them safe and to practise in a way that protects them.

We recognise that:
• bullying causes real distress. It can affect a person’s health and development and, at the extreme, can cause significant harm
• all children, regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation, have the right to equal protection from all types of harm or abuse

• everyone has a role to play in preventing all forms of bullying (including online) and putting a stop to bullying.

We will seek to prevent bullying by:
• developing a code of behaviour that sets out how everyone involved in our organisation is expected to behave, both in face-to-face contact and online
• holding regular discussions with staff, volunteers, children, young people and families who use our organisation about bullying and how to prevent it. These discussions will focus on:
*group members’ responsibilities to look after one another and uphold the behaviour code
*practising skills such as listening to each other

*respecting the fact that we are all different
*making sure that no one is without friends
*dealing with problems in a positive way
*checking that our anti-bullying measures are working well.

Providing support and training for all staff and volunteers on dealing with all forms of bullying, including racial, sexist, homophobic and sexual bullying
• putting clear and robust anti-bullying procedures in place
• making sure our response to incidents of bullying takes into account:

*the needs of the person being bullied
*the needs of the person displaying bullying behaviour *needs of any bystanders
* our organisation as a whole.

Reviewing the plan developed to address any incidents of bullying at regular intervals, in order to ensure that the problem has been resolved in the long term.

More information about responding effectively to bullying is available: protecting children from bullying and cyberbullying learning – nspcc.org.uk/child- abuse-and-neglect/bullying
recognising and responding to abuse learning.nspcc.org.uk/child-abuse-and- neglect/recognising-and-responding-to-abuse

Related policies and procedures
This policy statement should be read alongside our organisational policies and procedures including:
• Child protection / safeguarding policy statement
• Procedures for responding to concerns about a child or young person’s wellbeing
• Dealing with allegations made against a child or young person
• Managing allegations against staff and volunteers

• Code of conduct for staff and volunteers
• Online safety policy and procedures for responding to concerns about online abuse

Nominated anti-bullying lead
Name: Lindsey Wise
Senior lead for safeguarding and child protection
Name: Seb Singh
NSPCC Helpline
0808 800 5000
We are committed to reviewing our policy and good practice annually. This policy was last reviewed

on: 8th June 2019.

Signed copy of anti-bullying statement.