Victims should have say in punishment of school bullies, says MPs' report

It will say pupils should be given a say in the sanctions faced by classroom bullies - for example litter-picking or school clean-ups.

The move will mean victims of bullying get a hand in devising punishments for their tormentors, as well as the culprit's classmates.

Schools will also be urged to provide "safe rooms" and "quiet play" areas in playgrounds where bullied pupils can seek refuge during break times.

But schools will be within their rights to expel pupils who fight back against bullies, guidance being published next month will say.

In a report earlier this year, MPs on the influential Commons education select committee had urged a halt to exclusions of pupils who retaliate against bullies.

But, responding to the report yesterday, the Department for Education said pupils could be sent home if provoked into hitting out against bullies.

Head teachers should first allow the pupil to state their case before reaching a decision on handling the incident, the DfES said.

However heads should never expel a bullying victim on the grounds they cannot guarantee their health and safety.

The committee had warned that some schools were sending the victims home on the grounds they can do nothing to stop them being targeted.

The bullied pupils were left to seek alternative schools while the culprits too often escaped appropriate sanctions.

But the DfES said such an approach was against the law and the forthcoming guidance would spell this out.

The revelation came in Education Secretary Alan Johnson's response to the select committee's report on the scourge of bullying in schools.

A series of harrowing suicides by pupils seeking to escape their tormentors has prompted calls for a renewed crackdown on the problem.

Ministers said guidance to schools would be "strengthened" to encourage them to record all incidents of bullying and report the figures to their local council.

The aim was to keep track of levels of bullying and expose schools with "weak or ineffective" strategies to stamp it out.

However ministers rejected the committee's call to make reporting a legal duty on schools, citing logistical problems. But heads' leaders said ministers were still putting too much emphasis on "paper shuffling".

Elsewhere in a wide-ranging report, the Government made clear faith schools must not shrink from tackling homophobic bullying.

Senior Catholic Church figures had suggested in evidence to MPs specific policies against homophobic bullying were unnecessary.

Updated guidance to schools would make clear their anti-bullying policies must "include measures on tackling all forms of bullying" - including homophobic bullying, the DfES said

Faith schools must not simply sign an anti-bullying charter and then ignore it.

Meanwhile pupils would be able to play a bigger part in devising punishments for bullies under new guidance currently being drawn up.

"The revised anti-bullying guidance will advise schools to develop the different roles that pupils can play in responding to incidents of bullying" the DfES said.

"One of the ways to involve pupils is to encourage them to have a say about the disciplinary sanction regime of their school and suggest suitable sanctions for bullies.

"This will ensure pupils view sanctions as fair and will make them feel they have an influence over tackling the issue."

Ministers also backed the committee's call for schools to target anti-bullying efforts at times and places where it is most prevalent - including school buses.

Schools will also be encouraged to investigate "blind spots" in the layout of schools where bullying could take place and consider setting up "quiet play" areas in playgrounds or "short term safe rooms" for use at break times.

Further guidance will help schools crack down on the growing problems of gang bullying and cyber-bullying.

Dr John Dunford, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: "The recommendation to require schools to record every bullying incident misses the point entirely and it will do nothing to decrease bullying."

Lib Dem education spokeswoman Sarah Teather said: "It is a great shame that it has taken so long to persuade the Government to take action so homophobic bullying in treated with the asme seriousness as racist bullying."