Anti-bullying policy

Introduction

Sei-Do-Kan Karate Club is committed to providing a safe, welcoming and tolerant environment for children, young people and adults that is free from bullying. Bullying of any form is unacceptable in our sport, whether the behaviour is displayed by a child, young person or an adult. We make sure everyone involved in the sport – staff, children, young people and parent/carers – knows of and understands our stance towards bullying.

Definition and examples

The club defines bullying as the repeated harassment of others through emotional, physical, verbal or psychological abuse. We emphasise that the victim is never responsible for being the target of bullying.
Examples of bullying are:

Emotional:

Being deliberately unkind, shunning or excluding another person from a group or tormenting them. For example, forcing another person to be ‘left out’ of a game or activity, passing notes about others or making fun of another person.

Physical:

Pushing, scratching, spitting, kicking, hitting, biting, taking or damaging belongings, tripping up, punching or using any other sort of violence against another person, outside the rules of Karate.

Verbal:

Name-calling, put-downs, ridiculing or using words to attack, threaten or insult. For example, spreading rumours or making fun of another person’s appearance.

Psychological:

Behaviour likely to instil a sense of fear or anxiety in another person.

Responses to bullying behaviour

Despite all efforts to prevent it, bullying behaviour could occur on occasion and the club recognises this fact. In the event of such incidents, the following principles govern the club’s response:

All incidents of bullying will be addressed thoroughly and sensitively.
Children and young people will be encouraged to immediately report any incident of bullying that they witness. They will be reassured that what they say will be taken seriously and handled carefully.
Anyone involved in Karate has a duty to inform the club if they witness an incident of bullying involving children or adults.
If a person, no matter what age, tells someone that they are being bullied, they will be given the best chance to explain what has happened and reassured that they were right to tell. The individual who has been the victim of bullying will be helped and supported by the club. The club will check on their welfare regularly.
In most cases, bullying behaviour can be addressed according to the strategies set out in the club’s child protection policy. The individual who displayed bullying behaviour will be encouraged to discuss their behaviour and think through the consequences of their actions. They will be given the support they may need. Where appropriate, they will be encouraged to talk through the incident with the other person concerned.
Where bullying behaviour persists, more serious actions may have to be taken, as laid out in the club rules.
A member of staff will inform the parents/carers of all the children involved in a bullying incident at the earliest possible opportunity. If appropriate, the club will facilitate a meeting between the relevant parents/ carers. At all times, the club will handle such incidents with care and sensitivity.
All incidents of bullying will be reported to the Chief Instructor and will be recorded.