Mr. Ben Holmes:

I will go first. I will be brief as the Senator asked many questions. Mediation is very black and white. It is easy in this type of environment to make a bullying situation very general and very black and white, but usually it is not. For every severe bullying case one will come across, there will probably be ones that are less severe. In many situations such as those, and even with people I know when they have occurred, perhaps both parties involved have done something and have fought back at each other. If I have done something to somebody else, my school has a very harsh and strict anti-bullying policy. If a student who has done something says, "This person did it to me", that person gets punishment without any type of investigation into it or often any type of mediation. It is easy to say, "This girl says that you have done something", and immediately believe that when, in fact, often it can be everyone doing something malicious to each other. That is what I meant in my opening statement when I spoke about mediation, that it is not seen as black and white and it is investigated further.

As regards what an ideal system would be, one does not have to train every teacher to deal with bullying. It is necessary to train every teacher to be able to see bullying and be able to refer that to somebody higher up. If there were therapists in schools, such as CAMHS therapists, it would be a really good step for the Government to take. If one were to refer the matter to senior management, somebody specific who deals with it, the guidance counsellors or a therapist in a school, that person could then deal with it. It is not that every teacher must be equipped to deal with it on the spot, but that the teacher is equipped to refer it to somebody who would know what to do. In addition, the student knows he or she could go to that person higher up as well. That would be essential.