Oldham school earns gold award standard for anti-bullying work

Alexandra Park Junior School in Oldham has been honoured with an award recognising their hard work in stamping out bullying.

The school completed the All Together Now accreditation process this week, following a gruelling evidence gathering process which was made all the harder during the pandemic.

The award focuses on seven broad areas, and looks at how the school not only handles bullying, but how it is proactive rather than reactive.

The areas covered in the award are leadership, school policy, data collection and evidence, prevention, responding and intervention, staff training and development and equalities issues (at risk groups). 

The school previously achieved Silver Status in 2019, showing how they took bullying concerns seriously, but also were working towards a fully inclusive and pro-active curriculum to prevent the issue.

The school's progress and dedication to stamping out bullying has been rewarded with an upgrade to the Gold award in 2021.

The award recognises the diverse curriculum of the school, while also congratulating staff and pupils on their hard work towards a discrimination free society. 

Some of the events which helped achieve the award were the schools annual Anti-bullying Week, Children's Mental Health Week and Anti-Hate week.

The school have also had a variety of visitors over the past few years to inspire children to think about how they can be tolerant and respectful people.

Stacey Copeland visited last year to talk about diversity in sport. 

Mrs Samantha Nicholson-Hickling, PSHE leader, said: "We didn't need this award to tell us how wonderful our school was, as our children show how brilliant we are every day.

"It is something every visitor that has been to our school over the past few years has said: how polite and respectful our young people are.

"They are kind, generous, respectful, tolerant and open minded young people.

"We have played a part in shaping that in them.

"While it would be naive to say bullying never happens at our school, our children feel confident enough to say no to bullying.

"They know who to go to to get a problem resolved, and have the confidence that if something is reported it will be dealt with.

"The fantastic pastoral team do so much to ensure our children feel safe, happy and listened to.

"Without them our jobs as class teachers would be much, much harder."

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