'Angels' keep school pupils safe

Pupils say the measures have helped reduce bullying

A school's scheme to stamp out bullying secretly recruits pupils as 'guardian angels' to protect classmates.

The scheme is just one of a number of measures developed by Eastbourne Comprehensive School with the assistance of the police.

A special website has also been set up where youngsters can report bullying incidents anonymously.

Pupils at the school welcomed the measures and said their effect had already been felt in the classrooms.

The identities of the 'angels' are a closely-guarded secret and their role is to observe and report any incidents that give cause for concern.

The school's deputy head teacher Geof Sewell said care would also be taken in dealing with any information to prevent malicious complaints.

He said: "We treat this with great caution. Some of the things we follow up, there is nothing we can spot so we don't act immediately.

Special people

"One of the angels recently kept watch on a couple of the boys in class and there is nothing to it, but we have to be very careful to protect their identity.

"All angels have special numbers so nobody knows their name in the school.

"If they spot something going on they put it in a report and slip it under my door with just their number on it - I don't know who the person is reporting but we do regard that as serious evidence."

The 800-pupil school was awarded £250,000 last year to improve its security and make teachers and pupils feel safer.

Some of the money was set to go towards buying CCTV and special "invisible" fencing, and door locks opened by swipe cards or PIN numbers.

Pupils have reported a decrease in physical bullying and name-calling since the introduction of the anti-bullying measures and said they felt a lot better about school life.

Mr Sewell said of the angels: "They are very special to us but we can never let people know who they are."