Bullying and Discrimination

The Equality Act is a law which protects you from discrimination. It means that discrimination or unfair treatment based on certain personal characteristics, is now against the law in almost all cases.

 

Types of discrimination ('protected characteristics')

It is against the law to discriminate against anyone because of:

 

  • age
  • gender reassignment
  • being married or in a civil partnership
  • race including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin
  • religion or belief
  • sex
  • sexual orientation

 

Where does Bullying become discrimination?

 

The Law

Some forms of bullying are illegal and should be reported to the police. These include:

 

  • violence or assault
  • theft
  • repeated harassment or intimidation, for example name calling, threats and abusive phone calls, emails or text messages
  • hate crimes

 

Anti-discrimination law

Schools must also follow anti-discrimination law. This means staff must act to prevent discrimination, harassment and victimisation within the school. This applies to all schools in England and Wales, and most schools in Scotland.

 

Sutton House Academy Approach:

 

Level 1 – Tutor meeting with Parent/carer and pupil (recorded)

Level 2 – SLT meeting with Parent/carer and pupil (recorded)

Level 3 – Governor, Executive meeting with Parent/carer and pupil (recorded)

Level 4 – Reported as a Hate Crime online, police intervention (recorded)

 

As always staff will work with pupils and make sure expectations are clear, we ask that this message is continued at home.