Interview with The Matthew Arnold School

How many pupils in your school? 

946.

Before your pupils started using Speak Out Now, what method(s) had they been using to report bullying incidents in the past?

Incident sheets and telling staff directly.

How successful had that been?

Slow and time consuming.

What were the main drawbacks for using this original method?

Up to 6 students out of a lesson dealing with an issue

Massive paper trail

Difficult to read the reports

What attracted you to the Speak Out Now web service?

Once the system was brought to the students attention, the children made the decision to buy! They spent the £1,000 award money that they got from Spelthorne County Council for winning "The Most Improved School Award" on the Speak Out Now system.

Brian Kingston of Spelthorne is monitoring the system as part of the "Surrey Safer Schools" initiative.

Following a questionnaire to the children it became clear that they wanted to find improvement to a back alley which had become most unsafe - it is dark and overgrown. Also name calling via the Internet was the most common cause of bullying and Speak Out Now was a solution to the name calling.

What else attracted you to this method of communication?

Similar idea to Sleuth system which the staff use to report behavioural incidents – easy sell to the pupils, who could now use their own system to report incidents themselves in their break time and at home.

How long has the school been using it?

Nearly a year.

Since its launch, how many pupils have used Speak Out Now to communicate their bullying concerns?

Lots – 50% of school and some parents – launched only within Year 7 initially – plan to launch to Years 8 – 10 also from September 2008.

How does this compare with the amount of incidents received for a similar period using your original methods?

Children prefer to use the computer which is the modern way. Children fill out the reports themselves, use the messaging system and find it much quicker, saving them all time.

How has this web service assisted the teachers in tackling bullying?

The online system has proven to be a much more efficient way for pupils and teachers to report and manage incidents. All the staff involved so far have saved a huge amount of time – up to one and a half hours per day (a day a week) because of the system, allowing pupils and staff to avoid distractions during valuable teaching and learning time.

How confident are the children in using this program?

Very

What feedback have you had from the children? (Users and non-users)

· They prefer to report incidents on the computer.

· In general they have found it really useful and it has become part of the ethos but it has also proven to be especially useful with the girls, some of whom use it to air views on a variety of squabbles to do with group dynamics, that they wouldn’t have got previously e.g. if made to work in a group e.g. in Science.

· Mainly name calling is reported.

· They like their parents to know.

· There has also been specific feedback on two key incidents.

· Most powerful aspect is that it empowers the child and they regard it as their system.

Have you had any feedback from the children’s parents?

· The parents are delighted.

· They like the link it provides with the school.

· It provides credibility by being on the web site.

· Two specific incidents which were effectively reported on the system have transformed the school experience for a couple of parents and pupils who are very happy:

o One serious incident of bullying where a child was getting others to do the bullying all year. Parents wanted to go to the head initially but regarded Speak Out Now as such a secure and safe route to report the incident they used that instead. The parents helped the child to complete the reporting in the evening, diligently logging a number of incidents (logging all details of those involved and exactly what happened). The detailed reporting offered by the system allowed the schools to build a case for the School Governors who excluded the bully in this instance.

o Another incident involved a vulnerable child who has experienced a big increase in confidence as a result of the Speak Out Now system. He together with his parents reported an incident using Speak Out Now and said what he wanted to happen. This empowerment is one of the most powerful aspects of the system. The incident was resolved to everyone’s satisfaction, even in so far as the pupil who was reported has taken this child under his wing and they’ve become mates! Now the child’s school experience has completely changed, he is now very confident and he has reported no further incidents, whereas previously he was reporting incidents every day but perceived that nothing was being done. His confidence in the system has totally changed his perception of the way bullying is dealt with.

What would you say are the main benefits of using this service?

It has fulfilled everything they wanted. It is IT based which is part of the ethos and helps to effectively deal with bullying which from a pastoral point of view is a real concern. Year 7 has so far benefitted more than the rest but there are plans to roll the system out to the rest of the school.

If you were recommending this program to another school, what would you say?

When we had the demo it offered a confidential way of reporting incidents that were serious to the pupils and the system works just as Speak Out Now said it would!

Is there anything else you’d like to add about the Speak Out Now web service?

Ofsted said of the system that "with Speak Out Now no child will be lost” – received an "outstanding" on the pastoral theme in January 2008.