Fort Anti-Bullying Brigade (FABB): Fort Primary School

Why?
The Fort Anti-Bullying Brigade seeks to implement the school’s anti-bullying strategy in a positive way. Rather than punishing bad behaviour, the focus is on how to encourage and recognise good behaviour in the playground. By training P7 pupils on how to intervene in conflict and reward good behaviour through certificates at assembly, cooperation between pupils develops and reduces the need for teachers in the playground.

What?
Through role play and group discussion, P7 pupils are given training to:

• Be able to deal with playground incidents, for example, how to intervene in conflict and ensure that no child is left out at playtime.
• Design the incident report forms that they use in the playground.
• Report bad behaviour and encourage good behaviour through presenting award certificates at weekly assembly.

FABB is a school-originated programme which is successful because the pupils are involved in designing the training course and running the Brigade on a day-to-day basis.

To reinforce the anti-bullying message, the school has developed additional initiatives, including:

• A poster competition which is held annually to promote friendship.
• In PE, pupils take part in team games relating to friendship.
• A guide to the school’s anti-bullying policy is sent to parents.

How do we know it was successful?

• The number of playground incidents involving bullying has significantly decreased. P7 pupils also report better behaviour.
• Parents are reassured that children are happy and safe in the playground.
• Children seem to respond well to older pupils and a sense of collective responsibility is evident in the school.

Factfile
Fort Primary School is situated in Edinburgh and has a roll of 110.

Want to know more?
Contact Rose Islambolipoor, Head teacher, admin@fort.edin.sch.uk