Bullies to meet victims in new school initiative

From the Echo, first published Monday 20th Oct 2003.

SCHOOL bullies and their victims will meet face to face in a bid to bring the problem into the open.

A brand new project aims to get to the root of the damaging issue which blights schools across the area.

Those who pick on others will be asked to justify their actions and their victims will tell them about the devastating effect it has had on them.

Education chiefs hope the new Restorative Justice scheme will operate in primary and secondary schools across Bournemouth and Poole in the near future.

And a pilot project gets underway at Oakmead College of Technology in Bournemouth and its feeder primary schools later this month.

Head teacher Dr Annetta Minard said she is looking forward to the arrival of a newly appointed Res-torative Justice Co-ordinator who takes up his post on October 23.

And she said she hopes ways in which to address bullies will become a talking point with pupils in the 1,300-pupil school.

"We want to really tackle bullying head-on," she explained.

"When there are so many young people in the same place every day there is going to be a certain amount of antagonism."

She said the aim is to identify potential problems at an early stage and that both bully and victim will be asked to sit down together and discuss the problem in front of a mediator.

Parents will also be asked to get involved.

Restorative Justice is a joint project between schools, local education authorities and Youth Offending Teams who will aim to find a co-ordinated approach to tackling problems.

"If they are involved in trouble in school there is a good chance there is trouble in other areas of their life" said Dr Minard.

Restorative Justice will not only focus on bullying but on any issue which has a detrimental effect on other pupils.

Those who engage in disruptive behaviour, theft, vandalism or other wrong-doing will also be addressed by the scheme.

Oakmead, in Duck Lane, Kinson, already has a Learning Support Centre where pupils spend time away from the mainstream school without the more drastic measures of suspension or exclusion.

"We want them to confront their victims and see the impact of their behaviour on other people" said Dr Minard.

"The victim may also realise that the bully is not as strong as he or she thought and that perhaps they haven't got anything to be frightened of."

She said workshops will be held for parents, the college council is already involved in the planning process and added: "Everything we do will be in a supportive environment.

"We want to improve the self-esteem of both parties and no one will be forced to do anything they don't want to."

Dr Minard said bullying takes place in primary schools and continues until the mid-teens.

"It probably reaches its peak in Year 9 when they are 13 or 14-years-old but they grow out of it by the time they reach the sixth-form. We don't have a bullying issue in the sixth form."

She said the aim is for a co-ordinated approach to bullying and disruptive behaviour across Bournemouth and Poole.

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