[holding answer 9 March 2007]: There is no specific requirement for staff and volunteers from outside a school to have training in relation to bullying, although we would expect those who operate extended school schemes to be equipped with the necessary skills to tackle it when it occurs.
Trainee teachers receive training in tackling bullying and there is a wide range of courses available for qualified teachers. We supplement this training with guidance and advice designed to address the specific needs which school staff have in this area, for example, with regards to tackling prejudice-driven bullying. We are also currently revising our over-arching guidance to schools ‘Don’t Suffer in Silence’ to ensure that schools have practical advice on how successfully to address and prevent bullying when it occurs.
[holding answer 9 March 2007]: While there is not a specific legal requirement for school anti-bullying policies to cover activities that take place outside of regular school hours, there is a duty on schools to tackle all forms of bullying and so we would expect school policies to be couched in sufficiently broad terms that bullying on school premises outside school hours would be covered. The guidance to accompany the school discipline provisions in the Education and Inspections Act 2006, ‘School Discipline and Pupil Behaviour Policies’, will make clear that the Government believe extended school activities, sports events and breakfast/after-school clubs should be covered by the school behaviour policy and that schools should apply disciplinary penalties for poor behaviour (including bullying) that occurs at such activities.
Work has also been undertaken at local level to deal specifically with bullying in extended schools. In some schools, work funded by Positive Activities for Young People (PAYP) has helped to identify children and young people at risk of being bullied, or of bullying others, and provides positive diversionary activities out of school hours and during school holidays. There is also evidence to suggest that the provision of extended services by schools may, in itself, help to counter bullying. In particular, we know that on-site provision of family and community services can have a positive impact on pupil behaviour and attendance generally. Part of the Behaviour Improvement Programme included the development of ‘full service’ extended schools, and the ‘core offer’ of extended services which we want all schools to provide by 2010 includes services of direct relevance to issues around bullying such as parenting support and easy access to a wide range of specialist support services.