1. What is bullying?

Although there is no legal definition of bullying, here at Millbrook we adopt the definition agreed by the Anti-Bullying Alliance and its members, which states that:

"Bullying is the repetitive, intentional hurting of one person or group by another person or group, where the relationship involves an imbalance of power. It can happen face to face or online."

We understand bullying as the willful, conscious desire to hurt, threaten or frighten someone else. To do this, the bully has to have some sort of power over the victim, a power not always recognisable to teachers or other aduIts.

The four key elements to this definition are:

• Hurtful and Intentional - there is a deliberate intention to humiliate, hurt or harm.
• Repetition - Bullying behaviours can be persistent- they tend to happen more than once or have the potential to happen more than once.
• Power Imbalance - young people who bully use their power-such as physical strength, access to embarrassing information, or popularity-to control or harm others. Power imbalances can change overtime and in different situations, even if they involve the same people.
• Hidden - II often hidden from those who are perceived to have authority.

Bullying can happen anywhere including at school, at home and in the workplace. We acknowledge that bullying behaviour is often motivated by prejudice against particular groups, for example on grounds of race, religion, gender, sex, sexual orientation, disability or because a child is adopted or has caring responsibilities. It might be motivated by actual differences between children, or perceived differences.