At Seven Steps Childcare, we are committed to providing a safe, secure, and inclusive environment where every child feels valued and respected. Our approach is proactive, focusing on fostering an atmosphere of mutual respect through child-led interests and positive role modelling. We consistently demonstrate kind, calm, and patient behaviour to teach children how to interact through trust and empathy.

Preventative measures

To encourage pro-social skills and prevent bullying, we employ several key strategies:

• Bespoke positive reinforcement: We use tailor-made behaviour and reward charts based on a child’s individual interests to provide meaningful incentives for inclusive play.
• Inclusive environment: We celebrate diversity and promote British Values, teaching children to respect individual liberty and the beliefs of others.
• High supervision: We maintain high levels of supervision to ensure interactions remain positive and to intervene early if play becomes unkind.
• Educational resources: We use books, puppets, and activities to build social and emotional resilience, focusing on turn-taking, sharing, and understanding emotions.

Understanding bullying

We distinguish between the typical 'falling out' seen in early years and actual bullying. Bullying is defined as repetitive, intentional behaviour involving an imbalance of power. This can include physical, verbal, social, and e-bullying. We recognise the profound impact this can have on a child’s well-being and confidence, and we ensure all digital devices are supervised to model respectful digital citizenship.

Our role and responsibility

As the practitioners at Seven Steps, we take full responsibility for managing social dynamics. We use continuous observation to identify changes in behaviour that may indicate a child is being bullied. We also recognise that persistent bullying can be a safeguarding concern, and we link our procedures to our wider Safeguarding Policy and the PREVENT duty.

Procedure for dealing with bullying

If bullying is suspected, we follow a calm and consistent procedure focused on reconciliation:

1. Immediate action: We ensure the immediate safety and comfort of all children involved.
2. Listening: We talk to children individually using their preferred communication methods to understand the situation.
3. Addressing behaviour: We look at the "why" behind the behaviour and may implement specific reward charts to help the child develop empathy.
4. Exclusion: We work tirelessly to support children; formal exclusion is only considered as a very last resort if the safety of others cannot be guaranteed.

Partnership with parents and carers

We value collaborative support and will inform parents of all children involved as soon as possible. Together, we work to understand triggers and agree on consistent support strategies. For a child who has been bullied, we work closely with the family to rebuild their confidence through extra validation and specific praise. We also incorporate the views of parents and children into our golden rules.

Recording and external support

We maintain accurate incident logs to identify patterns and evidence the support provided. If a situation requires further expertise, we seek external support through the Northumberland Early Years Inclusion Toolkit or other local authority professionals.

External resources

We are committed to helping families access expert advice. Key organisations include:

• Anti-Bullying Alliance: Resources for identifying and responding to bullying.
• Childline: A free, confidential service for children.
• Kidscape: Practical support and advice to challenge bullying.
• Family Hubs Northumberland: Local support and access to early years specialists.