How lockdowns have impacted school bullying

Bullying is a tragic part of school life that many children will unfortunately experience during their education. Despite many schools being closed for parts of the last year, bullying still proved to be an issue for many pupils across England. We’ve analysed new Department for Education data to reveal which local authorities saw the biggest increases and decreases in bullying exclusions and suspensions in 2019/20, compared to the previous school year, to assess the impact that school closures and lockdowns had on the figures.

The best and worst local authorities for bullying

Unsurprisingly, bullying continued to be an issue for many children during the 2019/20 school year, despite school closures meaning that the overall rates inevitably fell from the previous year. Some local authorities saw better improvements than others.
Barking and Dagenham, for instance, experienced the highest rates of lockdown bullying, with exclusions for this reason rising by 200% compared to the previous year. It was followed by North Tyneside, which saw an increase of 143%. In contrast, Thurrock saw the biggest decrease from the 2018/19 school year, with a drop of 100% seeing its figure fall to zero. Shropshire wasn’t far behind, with a decrease of 93%.

The best and worst performing local authorities in each region can be seen below.

When it comes to regions, the South West saw the biggest improvement over lockdown, with a decrease of 41%.
Yorkshire and the Humber, on the other hand, experienced the smallest decrease in bullying related exclusions from the previous year, but its number still fell by 24%.
Across England, the national figure decreased by 31% from 3,540 to 2,456.

If your child is experiencing bullying at school, home schooling may be an option for you.
Find out more information, as well as advice on how to help your child if they’re being bullied, visit: https://www.oxfordhomeschooling.co.uk/general/bullying-advice/