Aims and Objectives
Aims
This policy aims to
Eliminate any form of bullying within the school community.
Objectives
To build a safe and supportive environment that will prevent
bullying by;
Developing active, trusting relationships among all school
community groups.
Fostering
an inclusive school culture and ethos that supports all
students and values the diversity of the student, staff
and community population including culture, ethnicity, gender,
sexual orientation, physical ability and economic status.
Involving staff, parents and students in collaboratively
developing and implementing an active whole school plan
to address bullying, harassment, discrimination and violence
Providing
opportunities through the curriculum for the diversity of
students (and staff) to develop relevant knowledge and skills
in positive communication.
Maintaining
pastoral care/student welfare systems that enable all students
to feel safe and to feel valued.
Creating
teaching and learning experiences that promote positive
peer relations, social skills and resiliency.
Treating
the time in the playground and between classes as an important
part of the curriculum and also a time when students can
be more vulnerable to bullying, harassment, discrimination
and violence.
To know when bullying is happening, acting to stop it and
supporting those involved by;
Encouraging and explicitly teaching effective bystander
behaviour for staff, students and community members.
Providing
support for students involved in bullying or at risk of
becoming involved in bullying.
Handling
potentially serious incidents proactively and creating opportunities
for the whole school community to respond effectively to
carer concerns.
Involving
a wide range of students in identifying where bullying occurs.
Following
school guidelines on incident response and ensuring understanding
of the consequences and goals of reinforcing everyone’s
right to be safe at school.
To effectively manage incidents that have serious impact on
individuals and/or the school by;
Developing and implementing agreed policies, strategies
and procedures in handling serious incidents.
Using
restorative justice principles to resolve issues and restore
the sense of wellbeing for all involved.
Reviewing
incidents and implementing improvements to school responses
and policies.
Ensuring
that all staff are confident to support students affected
by serious incidents.
What
is Bullying?
Bullying
can be defined as intentional, repeated behaviour by an individual
or group of individuals that causes distress, hurt or undue
pressure.
Bullying
involves the abuse of power in relationships. Bullying can
involve all forms of harassment (including sex, race, disability,
homosexuality or transgender), humiliation, domination and
intimidation of others.
Bullying
behaviour can be
verbal eg name calling, teasing, abuse, putdowns, sarcasm,
insults, threats
physical
eg hitting, punching, kicking, scratching, tripping, spitting
social
eg ignoring, excluding, ostracising, alienating, making
inappropriate gestures
psychological
eg spreading rumours, dirty looks, hiding or damaging possessions,
malicious SMS and email messages, inappropriate use of camera
phones.
Statement
of Purpose
All members
of the school community have a shared responsibility to eliminate
bullying from our school, and its wider community. Staff,
students, parents, carers and community members need to work
together to build a safe and supportive environment, developing
an awareness of bullying behaviour and acting to stop it and
support those involved, and managing instances of bullying
that do occur.
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