Statement issued in response to the House of Commons Education and Skills Committee Third Report of Session 2006-07 on bullying:

We are very clear that all forms of bullying are intolerable, whatever their focus and to whoever they are directed.  We would expect all schools to have tough anti-bullying policies, to monitor these and to keep them under regular review. Such policies need to be supported by professional development and training for all staff.  It is likely that within this overall structure anti-bullying policies will make reference to different types of bullying so that all types of bullying are guarded against.  For example, one person’s colloquial nickname for another pupil could well be perceived as gender harassment or bullying and this would be unacceptable.  Anti-bullying policies may be expected to exemplify particular instances of undesirable behaviour such as this and others in order to achieve clarity of expectation.

We agree with the Schools Minister’s sentiments entirely: “(We) do not and will not tolerate bullying in any form, we should not tolerate people not respecting the differences that people have and I think that applies to homophobic bullying, it applies to faith-based bullying, it applies to all forms of bullying in all settings”.  We are pleased to note that no-one should have to endure bullying because of their faith.

Fortunately, Catholic schools already have a very good record of avoiding and tackling bullying.  Independent data from Ofsted shows that Catholic schools are more often very successful at protecting pupils from bullying, racism or harassment than other schools*. 

What really matters is that schools should have anti-bullying policies which make absolutely clear to all concerned that any form of bullying is intolerable. 

Oona Stannard

Chief Executive and Director

26^th March 2007

*55% of Catholic primary schools scored excellent or very good on “freedom from bullying” measures compared with 44% of other schools; the figure at secondary level is 41% for Catholic schools compared with 28% of other schools (Quality and Performance: A Survey of Education in Catholic Schools, 2006).