Numbers up for bullying at Chad Vale Primary School

Sep 18 2008 By Diane Parkes, Birmingham Mail

YOUNGSTERS at Chad Vale Primary School know their numbers and are well aware the most important ones are 08001111 – the ChildLine telephone number.

Children at the school have been working with ChildLine staff and volunteers to learn all about Speak Out Stop Bullying and they know there is help available if they need it.

In fact the school is one of a handful which has a designated telephone from which children can call ChildLine at any point in the day.

“Children can say they want to use the phone or they can ask to go to the toilet and can use the phone if they don’t want to say,” said head teacher Robin Haselgrove.

“The phone is in a corridor so that if a child gets upset while they are on the telephone there are adults going past who can be nearby.

“I can’t say how often it is used but there are times when it is busier, for example when children in Year Six are taking their SATs or 11+ and are under a lot of pressure.”

The school has also done a good deal of anti-bullying work with ChildLine and is looking to train designated peer mentors and buddies.

“We had friendship flags in the playground and that was successful but only for a short time,” added Mr Haselgrove.

“So we decided to ask ChildLine to organise it. The children know the value of the work that ChildLine does so they will be the perfect partner for this.

“Some of the children will be peer mentors and others will be buddies and we are hoping to have it in place by Christmas. We are very grateful to ChildLine for the work they do here, it is valued.”

The anti-bullying work is part of the school’s ethos of caring for the children.

“We like to think of Chad Vale as a happy family,” said Mr Haselgrove, who has been head of the Harborne school for eight years. “And one of our over-reaching policies is that we always tell secrets to our mums. We tell the children that whatever happens they can tell their mum so there are no secrets. It means we have a culture of openness in which children are protected.”