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What is bullying? (Anti-Bullying Alliance)

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What is bullying? (Anti-Bullying Alliance)

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At Mapperley Plains Primary School, we have adopted the Anti-Bullying Alliance's definition of bullying:

"Bullying is the repetitive, intentional hurting of one person or group by another person or group, where the relationship involves an imbalance of power. Bullying can be physical, verbal or psychological. It can happen face to face or online."

This page provides further information about bullying behaviour.

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Our Policy is available on our school website here: 

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Our Policy is available on our school website here: 

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If you would like a copy of our Policy, you can also visit our school office.

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Policies - Mapperley Plains Primary and Nursery School

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Mapperley Plains Primary and Nursery School

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Anti-Bullying Alliance's Definition of Bullying - Video

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Anti-Bullying Alliance's Definition of Bullying - Video

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Here you will find a short animation about the Anti-Bullying Alliance's definition of bullying.

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Anti-Bullying Alliance Definition of Bullying - Subtitled

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Information toolkit for parents and carers on bullying - (Anti-Bullying Alliance)

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Information toolkit for parents and carers on bullying - (Anti-Bullying Alliance)

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This updated Information Toolkit for Parents and Carers on Bullying provides advice on:

what bullying is,

what schools' responsibilities are,

how to know if your child is being bullied or what you should do if you think your child is bullying others,

sources of advice and support,

and more

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FREE Parent and Carer Pack for Anti-Bullying Week 2025 (Anti-Bullying Alliance)

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FREE Parent and Carer Pack for Anti-Bullying Week 2025 (Anti-Bullying Alliance)

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The ABA have developed another FREE Parent and Carer Pack to help parents/carers bring Anti-Bullying Week 2025 and Odd Socks Day to life at home.

This resource will help you start the conversation about bullying no matter the age of your child and give you other ideas about anti-bullying at home.

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We have developed another FREE Parent and Carer Pack to help you bring Anti-Bullying Week 2025 and Odd Socks Day to life at home. This resource will help you start the conversation about bullying no matter the age of your child and give you other ideas about anti-bullying at home.

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Kidscape have a Parent Advice Line - this aims to offer friendly, impartial, non-judgemental information, advice and support to parents, carers, family members or professionals who are concerned about a child  - either because they are being bullied, or because they may be involved in bullying others.

If you’d like to get in touch with Kidscape, you can book a call at a time that suits you, and they'll call you back. If you don’t see a convenient slot, please check back later, as availability may change. Most of the call slots are on Mondays and Tuesdays.

You can also get in touch with Kidscape by using the contact details below. The Parent Advice Line is open on Mondays and Tuesdays, 9:30am – 2:30pm. If they are not available at the time you call, please leave a message with your name and best contact number, or send them an email, and they will soon be in touch.

Parent Advice Line: 0300 102 4481

WhatsApp: 07496 682785

Email: parentsupport@kidscape.org.uk

Kidscape also have a variety of information pages for parents and carers.

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How you can help your child

If you need bullying advice, you can call our Parent Advice Line. We give friendly, impartial advice to anyone who is concerned about a child - either because they are being bullied, or because they may be involved in bullying others.

Call 07496 682785

We also have lots of advice about:

Kidscape offer free ZAP workshops to support children and families impacted by bullying. Find out more about ZAP workshops.

Find out more

Find out more

Find out more

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Practical tips to help parents deal with bullying

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A Parent's Guide to Anti-Bullying - The Diana Award

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A Parent's Guide to Anti-Bullying - The Diana Award

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The Diana Award have created a variety of free resources all about Anti-Bullying.

This Parents'/Carers' guide includes:

Bullying Facts

The Law, Your Rights & Responsibilities

The Online World

Keeping Your Child/Ward Safe Online

Social Media

Gaming

Anonymous Cyberbullying

Responding to Signs of Bullying

Bullying & Mental Health

Anti-Bullying Ambassador Programme

Further Information & Support

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Information and Anti-Bullying training for parents and carers (Bullies Out)

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Information and Anti-Bullying training for parents and carers (Bullies Out)

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Bullies Out host a free Anti-Bullying training session for parents, carers and guardians.

This training course aims to support attendees to:

Develop a clearer understanding of bullying behaviour

Explore the wider effects of bullying behaviour

Explore the difference between Bullying and Relational Conflict

Identify signs that your child may be experiencing a bullying situation

Discuss how to appropriately talk to your child about bullying behaviour

Discuss how to talk to and work with your child’s school

Bullies Out also have a variety of information pages about Bullying, these include:

Is My Child Being Bullied?

Is My Child A Bully?

Talking To Your Child

Talking to the School

Bullying Outside School

Changing Schools

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Understanding and Exploring Bullying for Parents - BulliesOut

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As a parent or carer, discovering that your child is experiencing bullying, or is involved in bullying behaviour, can be worrying. As parents, it is important that we react and respond appropriately to incidents of bullying to ensure a successful outcome is reached for everyone involved.

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Advice for parents/carers if their child is experiencing bullying (Young Minds)

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Advice for parents/carers if their child is experiencing bullying (Young Minds)

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Young Minds have created a guide for parents/carers with information about what they can do if they think their child is being bullied. They include practical advice about how parents/carers can work with the school.

Young Minds also have information pages about bullying.

If a parent/carer is concerned about their child's mental health, whether this be due to experiencing bullying or for any other reason, Young Minds also have a Parent Helpline and webchat service.

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Sometimes there may be no signs, as your child may try to hide what's going on. What you can do as a parent is try to keep lines of communication with your child as open as possible. By focusing on listening and being non-judgemental, you can help them to feel they can talk to you about whatever is going on for them.

If you have a gut feeling as a parent that something's not right with your child, ask them about it in a gentle way. For more advice on how to start a conversation with your child about how they're feeling, as well as games and activities you can use to create a relaxed space to talk, have a look at our guide to starting a conversation with your child.

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What To Do If Your Child Is Being Bullied

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How can you spot the signs that your child is being bullied? And what can you do to support them? Our Parents Helpline team share their advice.

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Young Minds offer tailored information, advice and support to parents and carers who are concerned about their child or young person’s mental health.

You can speak to Young Minds over the phone, or chat to them online.

You can use the Helpline service if you are the parent or main carer of a child or young person aged 25 or under.

The service is available across the UK. It is free and confidential.

Call the Parents Helpline for free on 0808 802 5544.

Young Minds are open Monday to Friday. You can call them:

from 9.30am - 4pm on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays

from 9.30am - 6pm on Tuesdays and Wednesdays

To chat to Young Minds online, click on the chat icon in the bottom righthand corner of your screen (on the Young Minds website). The chat is open Monday to Friday, 9.30am - 4pm.

When Young Minds are closed, you can leave them a message by clicking on the chat icon in the bottom righthand corner of your screen (on the Young Minds website). They'll reply to you by email in 3-5 working days.

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We support main carers of children and young people, as well as parents. You might be a kinship carer, legal guardian, foster carer, grandparent or sibling. If you are the child or young person's main carer, we want to support you. Our advisers are trained and experienced in supporting carers as well as parents.

If you are a family member or friend, but you are not the child or young person's main carer, see our online information for advice around how you can support them. You can also encourage their parent or main carer to contact us.

If you are a professional looking for information about supporting the young people you work with, see our resources for professionals.

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Parents Helpline | Mental Health Help for Your Child

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The YoungMinds Parents Helpline, Webchat and Email provide support and help for parents and carers worried about their child's mental health and wellbeing.

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Additional information and organisations for parents/carers (Nott Alone)

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Additional information and organisations for parents/carers (Nott Alone)

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The Nott Alone website has lots of information about a variety of different mental health and wellbeing issues, they have a dedicated page to bullying. This page includes information about what bullying is and what to do if your child is experiencing bullying.

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What is bullying?

This is the Anti-Bullying Alliance's  definition of bullying is:

The repetitive, intentional hurting of one person or group by another person or group, where the relationship involves an imbalance of power.

Bullying is often aimed at certain people because of their race, religion, gender, sexual orientation or any other aspect such as appearance or disability.

Bullying can take many forms including:

Physical - for example: pushing, poking, kicking, hitting, biting, pinching

Verbal - for example: name-calling, sarcasm, spreading rumours, threats, teasing, belittling.

Emotional - for examples: isolating others, tormenting, hiding books, threatening gestures, ridicule, humiliation, intimidating, excluding, manipulation and coercion.

Sexual - for example: unwanted physical contact, inappropriate touching, abusive comments, homophobic abuse, exposure to inappropriate films

Online/cyber - for example: posting on social media, sharing photos, sending nasty text messages, social exclusion

Unfortunately, children can fall out. Children may have been friends for years, or just a few days - but something can happen which means they decide they no longer want to be friends, and it can be hard as a parent/carer to see your child struggling with this.

Making friends, falling out, and perhaps making up again is a normal part of relationships. But, that doesn't for one moment mean that it's not difficult or upsetting for everyone involved.

Not all friendship fallouts are bullying - sometimes professionals use the term 'relational conflict'.

How to respond to bullying...

If you think your child is being bullied

It can be really upsetting to find out that your child has experienced bullying - regardless of where that bullying has taken place - but it's really important to stay calm and thank them for telling you ... it probably took a lot of courage to do so. They are looking to you as their place of comfort and support. They will monitor your reactions when they tell you what is currently happening or has happened. Believe it or not, children do worry about the perceived pressure that they put on us as parents. All of this means to first take a deep breath and monitor your tone of voice when talking to your child. You can reassure your child that you'll support them to report the behaviour.

Here are some top tips:

If you feel able to, and the bullying is being perpetrated by someone at school, please inform a teacher or member of the pastoral team (the Anti-Bullying policy will be available to download/view from the school's website, and this will guide you in this process).

If your child is asking you not to report the bullying to the school, there are some other steps which you could consider such as:

There is information and support available, you can  find out more  or  get help  here.

Show your child this page: Bullying (Young People)| NottAlone

If the bullying has taken place online - you could gather evidence - such as taking screenshots of the messages, usernames etc. If it is happening face-to-face, you could keep a log of dates/times/details.

If the bullying is taking place on social media or in a game - you could report it directly to the platform. Information about how to do this is available at ReportHarmfulContent.com

If the bullying is targeting a child's disability or is malicious and causing alarm or distress - you could report the bullying to the police as it may be considered a hate crime.

It's not your child's fault that they are experiencing bullying, but it may have knocked their confidence. Therefore, you could share videos and websites with your child to help them develop their confidence and self-esteem. Such as this video: Building Confidence After Online Bullying | Childline - YouTube

Please note: you may deem it appropriate, that you need to keep them safe and that may include reporting it to the school (even if they've asked you not to).

If you think your child is bullying

The ABA provides really useful information about what to do in these situations.
My child has been accused of bullying others (anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk)

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Bullying is repeated behaviour intended to hurt someone emotionally or physically. Bullying is often aimed at certain people because of their race, religion, gender or sexual orientation or any other aspect such as appearance or disability.

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Bullying and cyberbullying - advice for parents and carers (NSPCC)

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Bullying and cyberbullying - advice for parents and carers (NSPCC)

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This page from the NSPCC provides information about bullying and cyberbullying - it also provides advice to parents/carers and professionals about how to identify bullying and prevent it or respond to it.

Cyberbullying is bullying that takes place online. Unlike bullying offline, online bullying can follow the child wherever they go, via social networks, gaming and mobile phone. A person can be bullied online and offline at the same time.

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Advice for parents and carers to help keep children safe from bullying, wherever it happens.

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'Dealing with bullying' - information for parents and carers (NSPCC)

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'Dealing with bullying' - information for parents and carers (NSPCC)

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This page from the NSPCC provides support and advice to parents and carers when they feel their children may be experiencing bullying.

The page provides information about the following key topics:

How you can help a child if they're being bullied

How to talk to your child about bullying

What to do if your child is being bullied in school

How to report bullying online or on social media

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Practical advice and information for how to support a child if they are being bullied.

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Free webinar: Children and Friendships - (ACAMH Learn)

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Free webinar: Children and Friendships - (ACAMH Learn)

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This webinar was shared by Andrew Hall Safeguarding - Children and Friendships - ACAMH Learn

In this talk, Dr. Eileen Kennedy-Moore offers practical guidance for parents who want to help their children develop meaningful friendships. While parents can’t make friends for their children, they can play a key role in helping them build the social and emotional skills needed to foster caring and enjoyable connections. This presentation shares a dozen actionable ideas for supporting children who are struggling to make or maintain friends.

Learning Objectives

A. To recognise examples of stop signals and techniques to help children stop.

B. To know strategies children can use to signal openness to friendship.

C. To understand some helpful ways parents can respond when children are upset about a lack of friendships.

You can watch the webinar here: 10.13056/acamh.13732

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Duration: 15 mins Publication Date: 4 Sep 2024 Next Review Date: 4 Sep 2027 DOI: 10.13056/acamh.13732

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Cyberbullying Advice Hub (Internet Matters)

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Cyberbullying Advice Hub (Internet Matters)

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Research shows that cyberbullying is on the rise. Internet Matters advice guides help parents and carers to learn more about the different forms of cyberbullying, how to prevent it, including conversation tips and what to do if it occurs.

Explore the Internet Matters Cyberbullying Advice Hub

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Help your family tackle cyberbullying by exploring our advice guides and finding out what it is, ways to prevent it, and how to deal with it.

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Childline have lots of information and support for young people who are experiencing, witnessing or perpetrating bullying. The information is free to access, use and share.

There are separate sites and targeted information for children who are under 12-years-old and children who are over 12-years-old. Please note, 'cookies' may prevent you from switching between the two sites - if you have trouble viewing either version, please clear your cookies and try again.

Their key topics include:

What is bullying?

Dealing with bullying

Can I talk to the police?

Taking care of your mental health

Supporting someone who's being bullied

Help if you're bullying someone

Childline also provide information about different types of bullying, these include:

Bullying and cyberbullying

Bullying on social media

Discrimination, hate crime and equality

Homophobic and transphobic bullying

Faith and religious bullying

Racism and racial bullying

Being bullied because you're deaf

Childline also have different ways that children and young people can seek direct support - this includes:

A telephone service: 0800 11 11

A 1-2-1 online chat service

An email service, through your Childline account

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You can talk to us

Sometimes bullying can be hard to describe, especially if you're being bullied by friends.

If someone's trying to make you feel bad, that's not okay. We're here to help.

Sometimes bullying can be harassment or threatening behaviour, which is against the law. So if someone keeps making you feel scared on purpose, what they're doing could be illegal.

Harassment can include someone:

lying to you about who they are

threatening to hurt you

sending nasty or offensive messages to you or about you.

Telling someone how you feel can be tough, but it can really help you feel less alone.

You don't need to tell someone everything at once. You could start by choosing one person you trust to talk to. If you can't think of anyone, you can always talk to us.

If you're struggling to say what's happening out loud, you could try:

Taking your mind off what's happening can help you have more energy to cope when things are difficult.

Why not try:

Taking a break from checking your messages
Try muting your notifications and doing something else if people are messaging you online, even if it's just for a short time.

Going for a walk
If you feel it's safe to, go for a walk or run in the park. Or try playing sports.

Creating a maze
Focus on making it as big or complex as you want. If you want to challenge yourself, try making one without taking your pen off the paper.

Distracting yourself right now

If you're struggling with your feelings, try moving away from anything that might distract you and take a few deep breaths. Focus on what's around you and name:

5 things you can see

4 things you can touch or feel

3 things you can hear

2 things you can smell

1 thing you can taste

Bottling up your feelings can make them hard to cope with. But there are lots of ways you can let them out. Why not try:

Listening to music
Try listening to music that matches how you feel. Or if you want to distract yourself, listen to music that makes you happy or a podcast.

Writing a poem
Write a poem about how you're feeling now. Or keep your mind busy by coming up with limericks or rhyming poems.

Making a comic book
You could make a comic about what's happening, what you'd like to happen or something completely different.

Bullying can have a big effect on your confidence. You might be worried about going out or spending time with people, which can really affect your mental health.

Doing something small every day can really help you to feel better and build your confidence.
Feeling better with positive statements
Saying positive statements to yourself can help when you're feeling low or like the bullying's your fault. You could say them out loud or in your head.

Focus on positive things happening now and try making some up yourself. Or use some of the examples below:

"The bullying isn't my fault"

"I deserve to have a life without bullying"

"Today is only one day"

"Things can change"

"I'm strong enough to keep trying".

Making sure you have a healthy routine and taking care of yourself can have a big impact on your mental health.

Having a healthy routine includes:

making sure you get enough sleep

eating healthily and not having too much junk food

doing something every day that makes you feel good or proud

spending time with people who make you happy

exercising or spending time outside.

Your mental health is just as important as your physical health. And if you're worried about it, it's important to get support.

You can talk to your doctor about anything you might be feeling. Big or small. If you're not sure where to start, you can use sites like DocReady to help make a list of your symptoms.

Self-harm and suicide
Lots of young people talk to us about feeling suicidal and wanting to self-harm. If you're feeling this way, it's good to tell your doctor about it or you can always talk to us.

Watch: How to cope after bullying

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Let them know you're there for them
Listening and letting someone who's being bullied know you're there if they want to chat can make a massive difference. Chatting to them regularly and saying you're there for them can help them feel less alone.

Help them to get support
You could offer to go with them to report the bullying and help them think about what they want to say. Or you could help them report it on social media.

Think before you like or comment on something
Liking, sharing or commenting on a post designed to bully someone can make it more popular and visible, even if you're not supporting it. Don't respond to a post, even if you're not sure if it's meant to bully someone.

Help to distract them
Help them to take their mind off things for a short while. You could watch a film, play sports or a game together.

Be positive around people
Whether it's posting positive things online, or being friendly to people at school, being positive can help lots of people to feel better.

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Bullying can happen to anyone. Whether it's online, at home or in school, no one has the right to hurt you or make you feel bad. If you or someone you know is being bullied, we're here to help.

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The Diana Award have a variety of articles that may be supportive for children and young people who have experienced or witnessed bullying.

The Diana Award has an 'Anti-Bullying 101' selection of support for young people, these include:

Your guide to Anti-Bullying

I'm being bullied, what do I do?

Definitions and types of bullying

What to do if you're being Cyberbullied

There are also articles about how to support others, these include:

What can I do if my friend is being bullied?

What can I do if I am bullying someone?

The Diana Award also have a 'Crisis Messenger' support service.

The Diana Award Advice Messenger provides free*, 24/7 text support across the UK. If you are a young person under 25 who needs support, you can text DA to 85258.
Trained volunteers will give you the space to share to how you’re feeling via text and help you think through the next step towards feeling better.
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*Texts are free from EE, O2, Vodafone, 3, Virgin Mobile, BT Mobile, GiffGaff, Tesco Mobile and Telecom Plus.

This service is powered by the Diana Award's trusted partner, Crisis Text Line.

The crisis messenger service could help with urgent issues such as:

Suicidal thoughts

Anxiety/Depression

Abuse or assault

Self-harm

Bullying behaviour

Loneliness and Isolation

Stress

Relationship/Family/Friendship issues

And much more.

You can text the Diana Award free* and anonymously – although if the volunteer believes you are at immediate risk of harm, they may share your details with people who can provide support.

If you or someone else are ever in immediate danger, call the emergency services.

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Learn the basics of Anti-Bullying in your school, workplace and home, as well as tips and tricks on supporting others.