How many bullying incidents did your Fife school report? Glenrothes’ three secondary schools logged among the most

By Cheryl Peebles

January 20 2023, 5:09pm

Glenrothes High was among the Fife schools which recorded the most bullying incidents. Image: Steve Brown/DC Thomson.

Hundreds of bullying incidents were recorded in Fife last year – possibly a quarter of them in Glenrothes’ three secondary schools.

Glenrothes, Glenwood and Auchmuty high schools were among the schools to report most cases, tallying 125 between them.

Madras College, in St Andrews, and Pitteuchar West Primary School, also in Glenrothes, were other schools to record the highest numbers.

We obtained these statistics through a freedom of information request to Fife Council and are publishing them in the wake of horrifying assaults at Waid Academy, in Anstruther.

Madras College in St Andrews had the second highest number of bullying incidents. Image: Fife Council.

Significantly, Waid recorded fewer than five bullying incidents during the 2021/22 academic year.

Across Fife Council’s 151 primary and secondary schools, there were between 497 and 673 incidents reported to the local authority. We can’t be more specific as figures were redacted for those which registered between one and five cases.

How many bullying incidents did each Fife school report?

Overall, the number of incidents recorded was significantly lower than the 637 to 801 reported in 2018/19, the last year when schools were not closed for a period by the pandemic.

Fife Council’s head of education and children’s services, Maria Lloyd, said the welfare and wellbeing of pupils is top priority.

She said: “Bullying in any form is unacceptable and we have a number of systems in place to support children and help them to feel safe in our schools.

“Every Fife school has developed and implemented a robust anti-bullying policy designed to protect children who may be vulnerable to harassment.

“Any allegations of bullying are taken extremely seriously. This means that incidents are reported, recorded and responded to appropriately.

“In Fife we have implemented a range of approaches to make sure children and young people develop positive attitudes to support an inclusive society and a number of our schools are Rights Respecting Schools.

“This recognises that children will have developed understanding of racism, cultural values and respecting each other regardless of colour or background.”