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While PBL and our Wellbeing framework continue to be the driving forces to promote the safe and nurturing environment in our school, it is important that we continue to be vigilant for any bullying behaviours that can impact on another person's experience here at school. It is equally important that parents are aware of the implementation of these procedures, even if they never need them directly. It’s good to know they are in place. Much like a seatbelt in the car, they are there to protect all members of our community if things go wrong, as they occasionally do.
The Puropose of this Special edition to newsletter is to unpack the bullying protections we have in place at our school. The purpose of this series of articles (originally published across 3 newsletters in Term 2 2024) is to clearly set out the procedures regarding any alleged bullying behaviours. It is actually one of our biggest documents, so it is important to unpack these sytematically. The newsletter is in three sections.
- Part 1 - Purpose of Documentation, Recognising and Defining Bullying, Types of Bullying. Promoting Bullying Awareness
- Part 2 - Investigating, Recording (tracking) and Confirming Bullying Behaviours. Including occasions when Bullying is not confirmed and why.
- Part 3 - Responding to bullying, Consequences and actions, Supporting Anti Bullying strategies
Purpose of Anti Bullying Documentation
All members of St Benedict's Edgeworth: students, teachers and parents have a right to feel safe, respected, trusted, and happy within the community.
Clear, well implemented policies and the modelling of positive behaviours and anti-bullying strategies has become a vital part of ensuring the safe and supportive environment in which learning can take place and positive wellbeing of all is paramount
Bullying behaviours are in direct conflict with these clear purposes and priorities of the Catholic school and needs explicit procedures to recognise, investigate, name and address behaviours that do not align with it.
Recognising (and Defining) Bullying
Whilst defining bullying can be problematic and hotly debatable, much of the definitions centre on repeated, deliberate hurtful behaviours that are dominated by a misuse of power. The National Safe School Framework (2011) defines bullying as:
Repeated verbal, physical, social or psychological behaviour that is harmful and involves the misuse of power by an individual or group towards one or more persons.
Types of Bullying
Some types of bullying are unpacked below. Again, the determining factor with these behaviours is the repeated target and misuse of power. One off incidents can be harmful but that alone does not confirm bullying.
Promoting Bullying Awareness
A perception of bullying can actually be three different realities.
- An incident is a one-off conflict, equally contested and no misuse of power but did cause harm. (This is the importance of the definition. It is still responded to and recorded but not confirmed as bullying)
- An incident is tracked to be an emerging pattern of potential bullying. (This is the importance of reporting and recording the one- off incidents - to find emerging patterns).
- An incident is confirmed as bullying behaviours (Very specific school procedures are enacted which will be unpacked in the coming week's articles)
We will discuss how we investigate and confirm patterns of bullying behaviours in next week's newsletter but within this initial phase of Anti Bullying education it is essential that we promote Bullying Awareness.
Age-appropriate conversations about the nature of bullying behaviours and how to respond to them is a proactive way to prevent them occurring in the first place.
Students drill down to these questions about Bullying.
- What is it (and what it is not)?
- What can students do about it if they see it?
- What will the school do if i report it?
All students are equipped with skills to spot it, stop it and report it. That way it is picked up before it even starts and most certainly responded to firmly if it has taken hold. Minimise potential, minimise risk of harm, minimise power of bullying behaviours.
Allegation and Investigation
One of the tools that we implement at schools when an allegation of bullying is brought to our attention is the Bullying Assessment and Action Flow Chart. It allows us to determine the presence of bullying in any given situation and is outlined below. It is used as a tool to ensure that all possible bullying allegations are treated appropriately in accordance with the definition. It is important to realise that not all incidences experienced by children can be automatically defined as bullying and so the use of this flow chart is invaluable.
Reporting and Record Keeping
- All previous incidents regarding different children are recorded on their student Chronicle on COMPASS. At the point of initial concern, parent contact or formal allegation, staff members must always consult previous entries of concern or incidences that are recorded with respect to the child. This may give a broader picture of the context of the investigation.
- When investigating a reported/ alleged incident, staff will complete Alleged Bullying Initial Action Tool as a Compass chronicle in the profile of student/s who has engaged in bullying behaviour. Both the student/s perpetrating the behaviours and the one/s impacted are listed in this tool.
- If the alleged incident is found to be one specific to bullying, this is confirmed as part of the tool used above and this enacts the schools Anti Bullying procedures.
- Students found to be directly involved in an act of bullying will be identified as part of the Bullying Action tool and further notes are made onto their persona Chronicle about their level of involvement. This especially applies if the bullying behaviours were conducted by a group of students with varying degrees of involvement. The one tool applies but further notes track specific responsibility for each student involved.
- If the alleged incident is not found to be one specific to bullying, this is confirmed in the action tool and the school’s behaviour management procedures are enacted. Teachers will also record an alert on the Chronicle of the child conducting the behaviours (as well as the one impacted) that directs other staff members to the incident and logs it as a potential pattern.
- It is recognised that an isolated incident may not constitute bullying but repeated patterns of the same mode can. Therefore, as part of any investigation, the teacher will need to consult the Chronicle entries for students allegedly involved to identify any pattern or repeat of the behaviour.
- Communication of the findings to parent body will be formalised in the reporting section below.
Communicating
- If a decision is made confirming an incident of bullying, parents of all parties must be informed of their child’s role via a formal notification. Parents of both the victim (informing of steps taken by the school) and the perpetrator (informing of consequences governed by the school’s Anti Bullying Policy) will be informed of the final decision.
- Parents of the perpetrator will be further consulted in forming the disciplinary measures and support actions the school can enact.
- If an investigation is undertaken regarding an alleged bullying that cannot be confirmed, parents making the allegation must be informed of the investigation undertaken and reasons why the particular incident is not confirmed as bullying. This can be done verbally and logged or a letter.
- While not bullying, if the incident demands a response under normal discipline policy, the parent of the children involved will be informed accordingly. As stated above, the investigation /incident is still noted on the Chronicle of those children involved as part of the school’s behaviour management procedures.
When Bullying isn't Bullying
Deliberate, targeted, repeated and harmful behaviours involving the dominance of power.”
After careful investigation , there are times that an incident can not be confirmed as bullying. Firstly, this does not mean it is not something that needs to be dealt with under the school’s Behaviour Managment Procedures. Secondly, it does not mean that that incident itself will not necessarily develop into a pattern of behaviour that won’t further constitute bullying.
Ultimately, there are any number of incidences in any given week that constitute the normal social interaction of children that could be perceived as bullying but, in fact, are not. If a child feels overcome while equally contesting a ball, it is not necessarily bullying. A careless comment or crass joke at a time of high energy is not bullying. An incident of anger that results in a negative, random outlet of emotion is not bullying. They most certainly are incidences needing to be dealt with and each is recoded to ensure that repeated incidences are tracked. However, they are dealt with under the Pastoral Care Policy.
And finally, we as a school need to respond to incidences as they occur. It is difficult to address an alleged pattern of behaviour if we only begin to respond to it at the end of that pattern when past incidences are difficult to investigate. To this end, we are committed to hearing, investigating, tracking and responding to any concerns parents have as they arise and continue to invite your vigilance in bringing some of these unseen incidences to our attention.
School Repsonses to Bullying once confrimed.
- All disciplinary measures and responses are undertaken in consultation with the parents of those children receiving such measures.
- Responses to confirmed bullying behaviour are based on the Restorative Justice Principles and are outlined in a section below.
- Tracking of repeated patterns will place students on higher tiers of behavioural intervention as prescribed by the Positive Behaviours for Learning Framework. This may include a individual behaviour support plan
- It is important to note that once a behaviour pattern has been confirmed as bullying, only a general outline of disciplinary measures can be outlined to other parents. For privacy reasons, much of the specific details as to the support provided and consequences impacting on the perpetrator cannot be disclosed to any other parties.
Counselling Support for all involved.
Counselling services provided by the school’s counsellor along with social skills programs implemented by the Learning Support Teacher and Pastoral Care Worker will be offered to all children who are identified as harmed or harmful in a bullying incident.
Although it is more than reaonable to proivde counsellingsupport for thos impacted by bullying behaviours it may seem less so to
provide the same to thesoe perpertrating thos behaviours However, it is critical to the process that the school provide supprots for the child demonatrating the bullying behavcious. Please know, that conseqeunces are still in place but if we are to find a way to stop bullying behaviours at their source, we must seek to supprot the studnet to understand why they particpated iint hose behaviours that are harmful to others.
There’s no simple explanation for bullying
Bullying emerges from a complex interaction of social, personal and psychological circumstances. Underdeveloped emotional skills may also lead to bullying behaviour. Children and young people who have poor self-regulation and anger management skills are more likely to engage in bullying behaviour compared to those with better-developed skills.
Children and young people who engage in bullying behaviour may feel disdain for their targets, find bullying others to be enjoyable, feel strong and in control when bullying others, and/or believe that bullying others will help make them popular. Bullying behaviour can also occur because of distrust, fear, misunderstandings and lack of knowledge or jealousy.
Ensuring clear, consitent consequecnes and response to incidents of bullying.
In order to be proactive in restoring positive behaviours and in reducing the likelihood of repeated action, it is essential to have clear consequences built around the notion of restorative justice.
Firstly, any child found to have been involved in a confirmed incidence of bullying will meet with staff regarding their role in the incident. It is important the child understand why any bullying behaviour is undesirable and every effort should be made to help the child overcome the problem.
Currently the school discipline response to an incident (injustice) is based on the premises inherent in the Restorative Justice model that includes:
- Awareness of the impact of incident on multiple people
- Awareness of the impact on their interpersonal relationships
- Acknowledgement of their own feelings and motivations at the time of the incident
- Acknowledgement that equity needs to be restored and to ‘right the wrongs’
- Future intentions are planned for, clarified and enacted.
Children workshop these principles through the completion of stage appropriate worksheets and discussions while spending time removed from the playground (Reflection Room) or on repeated incidents if may result in the removal from normal school routines.
Ongoing Promotion and Awareness of the Schools Anti Bullying Procedures and Supports.
Ongoing monitoring of incidences of bullying will be maintained and remain open for the full period of enrolment at St Benedict's Edgeworth.
The school's Anti Bullying porcedures are communicated to regularly to the parent comunity (hence this recent series of aritcles in the newsletter) and these are often unpacked at age appropriate levels to the students in the classroom.
Additionally, our more proactive programs of Positive Behaviours for Learning and the Whole School Wellbeing Framework focuses on the explicit teaching, modelling and rewarding of those behaviours that promote positive communities and also building skills of ‘resilience’ in all students.
These programs are designed to promote in children the skills to deal with incidences that may involve bullying in a more proactive and assertive manner. Having said that, it must always be understood that the school is well placed to deal with those incidents that are of concern beyond those initial strategies.