Introduction
The students at the school are very smart individuals with a strong sense of social responsibility. We were approached to create a survey and represent the results, with the hope of making changes.
The questions in the survey are therefore a collaborative effort between us and these students - they had some pertinent questions to ask.
Taking part
Early results
The respondents are numbered at less than 150, but there are some worrying trends.
Would you say that you have experienced bullying at the school?
64% responded "Yes". Of those, 60% responded positively about this being resolved at the school.
Have you ever self harmed?
43% responded "Yes". The majority or respondents stated that this was to release pressure or painful emotions, and indicated that this took place mostly at home, but also at school.
Have you ever had a member of staff say something hurtful or inappropriate to you? had the shocking response:
If I let you back into school don't go into the girls toilets and slit your wrists. Comment by Susan trigger
What could the school do better? included the responses:
Focused more on the students and the emotional support rather than focusing on the levels and statistics. Happy students make better results as they will no longer be under the immense pressure. Well that's what it was like when I was there. My siblings are still at the school and indicate bullying is still NOT taken care of despite me being the victim of it.
Care more about student well being instead of just caring about how 'great' the school is, yeah you might be the best secondary school in Southampton Academically, but you literally could not give a damn about your students as long as their getting grades that make you look good.
recognised bullying issues and dealt with them before they get out of hand.
Mrs Trigger's primary concern is reputation, not the emotional wellbeing of students. The teaching staff are put under too much pressure to achieve the correct statistics, and therefore student welfare isn't fully addressed. I must stress that the majority of the subject teachers are caring and helpful, however much of the SMT are often not empathetic towards students' issues
No issues mentioned in this survey have been mentioned by staff. Things like smoking, drinking or drug use have been taught about and mentioned by teachers many times however subjects like self harm though clearly an important subject has been covered up like a dirty word. Ignoring the subject will not stop students from discovering it. Talking about this subject and ways to avoid it if the situation ever arose would be much more successful at preventing harm to students.
Pastoral support was basically non-existent at school unless you directly approached a member of staff with a specific issue, and even then it was often ignored and not followed up. Many students in my year group were victims of bullying and I believe staff were fully aware of the situation and did nothing to prevent it. A friend of mine came forward to the school nurse about self-harming, which was difficult for them to do, and all they receieved in the way of support was a half hour conversation with her and some advice about how to stop doing it. As far as I know, there was no follow up about her welfare, no other staff members were made aware of the situation and she was left to get on with it.
They should have spoken about Amber like she was a fucking human being- not a tool to use as a way of getting students to revise for their exams. The support should be far better too, hardly anyone is approachable. When I was down in a lesson (science with a certain teacher who has left) she would tell me off for not doing the work and treated me like a child, when she should have asked how I was and taken things a little easier. Bitterne Park needs to get their shit together if they ever want to have a friendly environment where students don't feel as if they can't take it anymore. I'm disgusted by how they talked about my friend; Amber should have been on the leavers hoodie, the support meetings for those of us who were (and continue to) grieving shouldn't have been all about our safety, nor the fact that they kept drilling into us that amber took her own life. We know that she did, and what all of us needed was a time to think about fond memories and ways to cope slightly better when having to attend school everyday. I believe that there are times when Bitterne parks heart is in the right place, but their approach is complete bullshit.
Thank you for all your responses. There are many more than quoted here, so apologies to those that have taken the time to write but not had their comments published. We will pass the results on to OFSTED as well as for consideration by the local authority commissioned thematic review (which we are involved with).
One respondant notes that we should have asked, "have you ever experienced low feelings or suicidal thoughts as a result of bullying?". That's a good point, and perhaps one weakness of this survey is that issues of self-harm and low self esteem have not been directly correlated with bullying by any of the questions, though deeper analysis of the results may indicate whether this is the case or not.
Thank you once again to those that have taken the time to respond.
Update
Ofsted's response
Thank you for your complaint of 15 December.
When we receive a complaint about a school we must consider if the complaint meets our assessment criteria to look into wider concerns raised about the school as set out by legislation. Further information about our complaints policy and the legislation that lies behind this is available at www.gov.uk/ofsted.
We have considered this complaint because it relates to the wider issues of the quality of the leadership and management of the school and the contribution made by the school to the well-being of pupils.
We have reviewed a range of information including the previous inspection report and Raiseonline data which is the most recent published report on the attainment and progress of pupils at the school. We have obtained information from the Principal Educational Psychologist at Southampton City Council, Alyce McCourt, and from the headteacher, Susan Trigger.
The information you have provided includes specific concerns of a safeguarding nature. It is important to understand Ofsted does not have the legal jurisdiction to investigate such matters. This responsibility falls to the police, NSPCC and the local authority. Ofsted contacted the local authority to advise them of your concerns. If you would like to discuss this please contact them directly.
The information from the complaint and that obtained through the assessment will be retained by Ofsted for consideration in the evidence base of the next inspection.
Ofsted does not share the detail of any complaint with a school without the complainant’s permission. However, we do share a summary of the complaint and our findings with the relevant chair of the governing body. This information is also copied to the headteacher and the Director of Children's Services at Southampton City Council.
Further information and support for parents on a wide range of issues can be found on GOV.UK, the website for government services and information, at www.gov.uk.
UPDATE: Ofsted have performed a section 8 inspection, the result of which aligns with this survey. Of those that did report bullying, two-thirds were satisfied with the school's response, and that the level of bullying presented to parents by the school is not representative.
Inspectors were taken aback by the frequency with which pupils reported that they had been the victims of bullying. This is despite information presented by leaders that, over time, incidents of bullying in school are rare.
Representatives of the city council provided clear evidence that they had challenged the headteacher and governors over the policy framework for safeguarding and child protection in December 2015. Inspectors agree that not all mandatory policies and procedures meet requirements and are available on the website.
While the report shows encouraging results in places, it is disappointing that so little action has been taken since issues were highlighted by the local authority following Amber's death, and despite our repeated submissions to the board of governors. The report recognises weakness in the leadership that we hope will be corrected to provide a better future for the school.