Tackling bullying in community settings such as FE Colleges, Extended Services and Children's Homes is a developing area of work.  The DCSF have funded the ABA Regional Advisers to disseminate the Safe from Bullying guidance to community settings across England and to collect case studies of best practice in preventing and responding to bullying in the wider community.  As this work progresses we will update this website and the ABA Local Authority Toolkit with case studies and resources.

The DCSF Safe from Bullying Guidance suggests a number of strategies that practitioners in community settings should take to prevent and respond to bullying. These steps include:

• Leadership - maintaining policies, arranging training, responding to incidents, monitoring incidents of bullying and linking with other practitioners and partners
• Ethos - creating a safe and welcoming environment, modelling fair and respectful behaviour, challenging all forms of prejudice, discouraging young people from colluding with bullying
• Policies - producing a clear anti-bullying policy that all staff and service users sign up to.  This should explain what bullying behaviour is and ways it will be dealt with
• Communication – make sure everyone knows what bullying is and that it is unacceptable. Promote the anti-bullying policy and create regular opportunities to discuss bullying
• Training – staff must be trained in preventing and responding to bullying if the anti-bullying policy is to be effective, and children and young people are to feel safe
• Practices – consult children and young people about how they feel about bullying and how best to prevent it in your setting, provide creative opportunities to discuss bullying and other related topics, encourage peer supporters and mentors to prevent and respond to bullying, build emotional resilience and wellbeing through activities, be vigilant against all forms of bullying and challenge all forms of prejudice