Girls terrorise the playground

26 August 2004 07:39

Girls were last night identified as the new menace in Norfolk's schools as figures showed that bullying is on the increase across the country.

School bosses said it had evolved in recent years from physical attacks to more “insidious” means – and girls were leading the way.

Their chief weapons were no longer fists and feet – instead they were using text messaging, silent phone calls and “evil” stares to make victims' lives a misery.

The up-to-date picture is a far cry from the traditional view of the school bully, and is providing new challenges for schools as they seek to crack down on the problem.

John Horsfield, headteacher at Dereham Neatherd High School, said: “It's a stupid headteacher who says, 'I haven't got a bullying problem'. It happens at all schools.”

He said: “Bullying now is massively different to when I was at school, and even to when my children were at school.

“It basically comes in two forms. The first goes on with boys. It is fairly straightforward and relatively easy to handle and detect. We get very few cases of it.

“But the other form is among girls, and the new twist to it is the bullying via text messaging. Some girls use words to intimidate, frighten or hurt others via texts.

“Sometimes they ring up and make the phone go blank, or make odd noises at the other end of the line. It affects relationships at home and at school. It's incredibly difficult to detect and to deal with.”

James Thatcher, educational psychology and specialist support manager at Norfolk County Council, acknowledged that “girl bullying” was a problem.

He said: “We run training sessions on girl bullying which, although not often as obvious as bullying by boys, is challenging and difficult.

“It can be more insidious. It's less direct and in your face but very damaging indeed.”

The new face of the school bully emerged as figures from ChildLine showed that calls from youngsters worried about bullying had risen by the highest level in the charity's 18-year history.

More than 31,000 children and young people spoke to a ChildLine counsellor about bullying in the 12 months up to March this year, compared with just over 21,000 in the previous year.

The calls made up one out of every four calls to the charity, and most of the callers said the bullying was at its worst at school.

Mr Thatcher said bullying policy was the legal responsibility of schools, but the county council offered comprehensive support.

He said: “We are by no means complacent or thinking that bullying doesn't happen here. We are trying to raise awareness levels and improve support in schools.

“We are strongly committed to ensuring bullying is minimised and that schools are happy and safe places.”

He said the council had produced a learning statement, setting out how all students in Norfolk should expect to be treated.

There had also been two recent bullying conferences in the county, while training was provided to help schools set up bullying policies.

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