Schools have a legal duty to take measures to prevent all forms of bullying, including sexist, sexual and transphobic bullying, and to protect pupils from harm, and ensure their physical and mental health and well-being.
●●There are also a number of pieces of equalities legislation that establish the specific responsibilities a school has to tackle discrimination.
●●Schools have the power to exclude pupils involved in bullying and/or cases involving sexual abuse or assault, and the legal powers of schools in this area are summarised in this section
●●Sexist, sexual and transphobic bullying may have wider safeguarding implications, or involve criminal behaviour, and in these cases schools need to engage the appropriate safeguarding agencies and/or the police
●●The range of government policy and guidance relating to bullying is summarised in this section, with links provided for further reading.


The Law
Duties relating to protecting the well being of pupils and preventing bullying
The Education and Inspections Act 2006
Section 89 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 requires all head teachers to determine a school behaviour policy, which must include measures to be taken with a view to ‘encouraging good behaviour and respect for others on the part of pupils and, in particular, preventing all forms of bullying among pupils.’
Governing bodies also have specific legal responsibilities in relation to bullying. Section 21 (5) of the Education Act 2002, inserted by Section 38 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006, requires that when exercising all their functions, governing bodies must ensure the physical and mental health and emotional well-being of pupils, and ensure that pupils are protected from harm.
A detailed summary of the law as it relates to governing bodies, head teachers and teachers and tackling bullying is set out at:

http://www.teachernet.gov[...]awsays/

Duties relating to equality and discrimination
There are also specific legal duties and powers of relevance to schools in relation to tackling discrimination. These are important to consider in relation to anti-bullying policy where the bullying is motivated by prejudice, as is the case with sexist, sexual and transphobic bullying. The duties and powers relevant to sexist, sexual and transphobic bullying are:

The Equality Act 2006
The Equality Act 2006 extends to sexual orientation the protection already in place against discrimination on grounds of religion or belief. The regulations make it unlawful to discriminate in the area of goods, facilities and services on grounds of sexual orientation. For schools this includes admissions, benefits and services for pupils and treatment of pupils.

http://www.teachernet.gov[...]ns2007/

Gender Recognition Act 2004
The Gender Recognition Act sets the legal basis for the recognition of transsexual people in their acquired gender. This may be relevant to schools supporting a transgender member of staff or pupil with a transgender parent/carer.
Gender Equality Duty 2007 (introduced under the Equality Act 2006)
The Gender Equality Duty came into force on 6 April 2007. All public authorities (including schools) must demonstrate that they are promoting equality for women and men (and girls and boys), and that they are eliminating sexual discrimination and harassment. Schools are required to have a gender-equality scheme in place that sets out how they are meeting the duty, which must include gender equality objectives to tackle their major gender equality issues.

http://www.teachernet.gov[...]tyduty/

Equality Bill 2009
The Equality Bill aims to strengthen, simplify and streamline existing equality legislation. All the various legal protections against discrimination for school pupils will be aligned as far as possible. This will mean that in schools, protection from discrimination on the grounds of gender reassignment, which was previously not extended to schools, will be the same as protection on the grounds of sexual orientation. It is anticipated that the Bill will receive Royal Assent in early 2010.
The Bill also introduces a new integrated Equality Duty which will apply to all public authorities, including schools. The Equality Duty will bring together the existing race, disability and gender duties, and extend to cover new age, sexual orientation, religion or belief and fully cover gender re-assignment. The new Equality Duty will follow the same structure as the current duties and will be underpinned by a number of specific duties, which will help public bodies, like the schools, in better performance of the Duty. The new Equality Duty is expected to come into force in 2011.

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, and criminal behaviour

‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ (HM Government, 2006)8 sets out how individuals and organisations should work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. This document stresses the harm which can be done by bullying, the effect on development and, in extreme cases that bullying can link to self harm.
Schools are required by law to make arrangements to ensure that their functions are carried out with a view to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. They should:
Create and maintain a safe learning environment for children and young people
Identify where there are child welfare concerns and take action to address them, in partnership with other organisations where appropriate

Under the Children Act 1989 a bullying incident should be addressed as a child protection concern when there is ‘reasonable cause to suspect that a child – is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm’. Where this is the case, the school staff should report their concerns to local authority children’s social care.
All staff should have an up-to-date understanding of safeguarding children issues and be able to implement the school’s safeguarding children policy and procedures appropriately. School policies should be in line with Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) guidance.

The Government White Paper Your child, your schools, our future: building a 21st century schools system (June 2009) includes the following Pupil Guarantee:
‘The 21st century Pupil Guarantee will ensure that there are high aspirations for all pupils and that each and every pupil is given the opportunity to do the best they possibly can and succeed in school and in adult life.’
Specific elements of this guarantee which relate to bullying include ‘every pupil will go to a school where there is good behaviour, strong discipline, order and safety’ and ‘every pupil will go to a school that promotes their health and wellbeing, where they have the chance to express their views and where they and their families are welcomed and valued.’

http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/21[...]system/