Online Safety

How do we deal with Bullying at SGHS?

Skipton Girls’ High School School is highly committed to providing a safe, positive, warm and nurturing ethos and environment for all of our students, so they can thrive in our learning environment and engage positively with new experiences and gain understanding about society and culture.

It is because of this that we value the qualities of honesty, trust, compassion, persistence, optimism, resilience, challenge and mutual respect in our school community.

Bullying of any kind is not tolerated. If bullying does occur, all students should be able to tell and know that incidents will be dealt with promptly and effectively. We are an OPEN and transparent school. This means that anyone who knows that bullying is happening is expected to tell a member of staff.

Procedures

1. Students and parents are strongly encouraged to report bullying incidents to staff
2. In cases of bullying, the incidents will be recorded by staff in the first instance.
3. All bullying behaviour or threats of bullying are investigated and the bullying stopped   immediately
4. We will always work with both the victim and the bully using restorative strategies to try and change the situation for the better.
5. Parents will be informed and will be asked to come in to a meeting to discuss with a Senior Leader or a member of our Student Progress Team.
6. If necessary and appropriate, our PCSO (Ms S.Hargreaves) will be consulted
7. We will always respond to an incident proportionately, taking opportunities to teach positive alternatives and to model calm and reflective behaviours.

Cyberbullying is when someone uses the internet or mobiles to deliberately upset or threaten someone else.

This is just another form of real-world bullying and no-one should ever have to put up with it! By using technology like mobiles or the internet, this type of bullying can affect someone not just at school, but at home as well. Because it takes place in the virtual world, it has a 24/7 nature and can make someone feel upset or threatened in their own home at any time of day or night.

It can sometimes be hard to identify who the cyberbully is because they could block their number or post things on a website anonymously. The nature of this type of bullying means it can have a large audience, many of whom may not even realise they are being bullies.

On the other hand, a positive thing about this kind of bullying is that it can be evidenced. With normal bullying, it can be one person’s word against another’s, but with cyberbullying you can save texts or print out emails / IM’s / WebPages. This can be used as proof to catch the bully and stop them upsetting you or anyone else.

We recommend that you save all evidence you have of the bullying. If you have nasty emails or things posted on your profile save them so you can use it as proof. Save texts or voicemails that say anything horrible. Learn how to block the bully on IM or delete them from your contacts. NEVER reply or retaliate to things they say or do; it might make the situation worse, and people on the outside may think you have contributed to the situation. If you don’t respond, the bullies are more likely to get bored and move on. If you are being bothered via text, contact your service provider. Each network has a special area for this sort of problem. Check out their website or call them for advice or a free number change. Please see below for a range of contacts.

All Internet activities, from searches, to comments, to page-clicks, to uploads/downloads, purchases and registrations on various sites, amount to your own unique ‘digital footprint’, traces that you leave behind ‘in perpetuity’ i.e. forever!

Most things posted or uploaded to the Internet are archived from time to time so that all previous versions of all web sites have been captured and saved and can be viewed at a later date. Further to this, if your comments or pics are copied by anyone (especially if they become viral) they can never be retrieved, so it is more often than not a one-way process.

It might therefore be worth considering what your own footprint might look like to the outside world, and take some steps to ensure that any potential damage is minimised? What would your parents, grandparents, teachers, church leaders, employers, colleges etc. think about what you are posting or uploading?

The Internet provides wonderful opportunities for communicating, researching, learning and working.

Never before in human history was there such a wealth of information available to people with only a few clicks. We all seem to be spending more and more time on it. It is now possible to book tickets online, view and share posts, pictures and videos via your social networks, browse sites and services, purchase and download items, and much more.

Unfortunately, alongside such freedoms often come unintended or unwanted consequences; online predators and trolls, viruses, phishing scams, rip-offs, junk mail, rude and defamatory comments, pornography, overexposure, and routine plagiarism to name but a few!

As a young person, by far the most dangerous thing you can do on the Internet is arrange to meet someone in real life that you have only ever met online. It is very easy for any person to hide behind an avatar or pseudonym and so someone you feel that you have known quite well could turn out to be your worst nightmare in real life. ‘Groomers’ or ‘online predators’ can be very patient people and take a long time developing a so-called relationship with their intended victims (possibly you?).

We recommend that you only give your number out to family and friends who you know in the real world.

Advertising it or publicising it in any way is rarely a good idea! If your mobile number is given to people that you don’t know, they may hassle you, or you may attract undesirable or even dangerous people. This is why it might also be best not to put your number on your profile of your social networking site (like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Bebo, MySpace etc).

Whilst having a camera phone can be cool, convenient and really useful, be careful if you share your photos with others. Pictures can be changed or shared around, so think about what the image is and who you are sending it to, before you press send. Once it’s out there it’s out there forever! Once it’s out of the box, you can’t get it back in!

Bluetoothing can be a quick and easy way of sharing stuff like photos, files and music. It’s important to be aware that unless you lock your Bluetooth, anyone in the area might be able to access things in your phone, like your contacts. If you don’t want to share this information with strangers (why would you?), then make sure you lock your Bluetooth. It might also be a good idea to change your password from the default setting of 0000 so people can’t guess it. Locking your Bluetooth can also help reduce the risk of getting viruses or spam to your mobile.

If you are receiving unwanted or insulting texts, you can contact your service provider. If you think that you are being targeted by other people, and they are upsetting you, have a look at the cyberbullying section of this site and use the links provided to seek advice or report the problem.

Social networking provides us with unprecedented opportunities for communication using a variety of multimedia, and also with new ways to advertise ourselves to the world, but always try to be careful what, and how much, information you give out on your profile.

Remember that you may not know who your friend’s friends are… or (even less) your friend’s friends’ friends! And you don’t know what they’ll do with your picture or your phone number if you give it out to more people than you intended to by mistake or otherwise. Once your picture is out there, it is usually out there forever and you won’t be able to get it back. Be aware that information on your profile could potentially be viewed by anyone. So if you wouldn’t be comfortable printing it off and handing it out to anyone on the street, maybe it shouldn’t be on your profile?

We recommend that you use a nickname or your initials instead of your name (you don’t want just anyone knowing who you are!). Consider changing your photo to a cool graphic or image of your favourite band or pet, that way strangers won’t have access to a picture of you. It’s not a great idea to post where you’re going on your profile or twitter or where you live. Think through if you’d want everyone who can view the post to turn up at any time!

Think through who you want to chat to and how many of your personal thoughts you want anyone to view. Sometimes, it can seem a good idea to share what you got up to with your boyfriend last night, or the argument you had with your best mate; but as you’re writing remember that information could be public forever! It is tempting to share loads of stuff on your profile, especially since you’re often typing from the comfort of your own home. But remember, the internet is a public space. Test yourself by asking “would I want my teacher/Mum/Dad/stranger on the street to see this?” If the answer is no… DON’T post it!

If you know someone… who knows someone… who knows someone, it rarely makes them your friend, so think carefully about whether you should be chatting to them and what kind of things you’re saying. Ask yourself this question ‘does having a thousand facebook friends make me look cool or desperate?’)

If it’s really serious – like you think the person contacting you may be an adult who wants to abuse you or your mates, report the issue on the thinkuknow website by using their ‘Report Abuse’ button or talk to any trusted adult.

Use your Privacy Settings

Adjust your account settings (sometimes called “Privacy Settings”) so only approved friends can instant message you. This is unlikely to ruin your social life as new people can still send you friend requests and message you, they just won’t be able to pester you via IM. This means that people you don’t want to see your profile can’t

Don’t post pictures of you or your mates wearing school uniform. If dodgy people see your school badge, they can work out where you are and find you. The more anonymous you are, the less vulnerable you are to people who may have bad intentions.

Tick the “no pic forwarding” option on your settings page to stop people forwarding your pictures to anyone without your consent.

And…if we haven’t mentioned it enough already… Please lock down your security settings to ensure your pictures and information are only available to the people you choose. Remember, by default they may NOT be locked down!