Anti-Bullying Policy

1.

In accordance with the requirements of the Education (Welfare) Act 2000 and the code of behaviour guidelines issued by the NEWB, the Board of Management of St. Nicholas National School has adopted the following anti-bullying policy within the framework of the school’s overall code of behaviour. This policy fully complies with the requirements of the Anti-Bullying Procedures for Primary and Post-Primary Schools which were published in September 2013.

2.

The Board of Management recognises the very serious nature of bullying and the negative impact that it can have on the lives of pupils and is therefore fully committed to the following key principles of best practice in preventing and tackling bullying behaviour:

(a) A positive school culture and climate which

is welcoming of difference and diversity and is based on inclusivity;
encourages pupils to disclose and discuss incidents of bullying behaviour in a non-threatening environment; and
promotes respectful relationships across the school community

Key elements of a positive school culture and climate:

The school acknowledges the right of each member of the school community to enjoy school in a secure environment.
The school acknowledges the uniqueness of each individual and his/her worth as a human being.
The school promotes positive habits of self-respect, self-discipline and responsibility among all its members.
The school prohibits vulgar, offensive, sectarian or other aggressive behaviour or language by any of its members.
The school has a clear commitment to promoting equity in general and gender equity in particular in all aspects of its functioning.
The school has the capacity to change in response to pupils’ needs.
The school identifies aspects of curriculum through which positive and lasting influences can be exerted towards forming pupils’ attitudes and values.
The school takes particular care of "at risk" pupils and uses its monitoring systems to facilitate early intervention where necessary and it responds to the needs, fears or anxieties of individual members in a sensitive manner.
The school recognises the need to work in partnership with and keep parents informed on procedures to improve relationships on a school-wide basis.
The school recognises the role of parents in equipping the pupil with a range of life-skills.
The school recognises the role of other community agencies in preventing and dealing with bullying.
The school promotes habits of mutual respect, courtesy and an awareness of the interdependence of people in groups and communities.
The school promotes qualities of social responsibility, tolerance and understanding among all its members both in school and out of school.
Staff members share a collegiate responsibility, under the direction of the Principal, to act in preventing bullying/aggressive behaviour by any member of the school community.

Practical tips for building a positive school culture and climate:

Model respectful behaviour to all members of the school community at all times.
Explicitly teach pupils what respectful language and respectful behaviour looks like, acts like, sounds like and feels like in class and around the school.
Display key respect messages in classrooms, in assembly areas and around the school. Involve pupils in the development of these messages.
Catch them being good - notice and acknowledge desired respectful behaviour by providing positive attention.
Consistently tackle the use of discriminatory and derogatory language in the school – this includes homophobic and racist language and language that is belittling of pupils with a disability or SEN.
Give constructive feedback to pupils when respectful behaviour and respectful language are absent.
Have a system of encouragement and rewards to promote desired behaviour and compliance with the school rules and routines.
Explicitly teach pupils about the appropriate use of social media.
Positively encourage pupils to comply with the school rules on mobile phone and internet use. Follow up and follow through with pupils who ignore the rules.
Actively involve parents and/or the Parents & Friends Committee in awareness raising campaigns around social media.
Actively promote the right of every member of the school community to be safe and secure in school.
Highlight and explicitly teach school rules in pupil friendly language in the classroom and in common areas.
All staff can actively watch out for signs of bullying behaviour.
Ensure there is adequate playground supervision.
School staff can get pupils to help them to identify bullying “hot spots” and “hot times” for bullying in the school. “Hot spots/times” tend to be in the playground/outdoor areas, toilets, corridors and other areas of unstructured supervision.

(b) Effective leadership

(c) A school-wide approach

(d) A shared understanding of what bullying is and its impact

(e) Implementation of education and prevention strategies (including awareness raising measures) that-

build empathy, respect and resilience in pupils; and
explicitly address the issues of cyber-bullying and identity-based bullying including in particular, homophobic and transphobic bullying;
effective supervision and monitoring of pupils

(f) Effective supervision and monitoring of pupils

(g) Supports for staff

(h) Consistent recording, investigation and follow up of bullying behaviour (including use of established intervention strategies); and

(i) On-going evaluation of the effectiveness of the anti-bullying policy.

3.

In accordance with the Anti-Bullying Procedures for Primary and Post-Primary Schools bullying is defined as follows:
Bullying is unwanted negative behaviour, verbal, psychological or physical conducted, by an individual or group against another person (or persons) and which is repeated over time.

The following types of bullying behaviour are included in the definition of bullying:

deliberate exclusion, malicious gossip and other forms of relational bullying,
cyber-bullying and
identity-based bullying such as homophobic bullying, racist bullying, bullying based on a person’s membership of the Traveller community and bullying of those with disabilities or special educational needs.

Isolated or once-off incidents of intentional negative behaviour, including a once-off offensive or hurtful text message or other private messaging, do not fall within the definition of bullying and should be dealt with, as appropriate, in accordance with the school’s code of behaviour.
However, in the context of this policy, placing a once-off offensive or hurtful public message, image or statement on a social network site or other public forum where that message, image or statement can be viewed and/or repeated by other people will be regarded as bullying behaviour.
Negative behaviour that does not meet this definition of bullying will be dealt with in accordance with the school’s code of behaviour.
Additional information on different types of bullying is set out in Section 2 of the Anti-Bullying Procedures for Primary and Post-Primary Schools

Examples of bullying behaviours

General behaviours which apply to all types of bullying

Harassment based on any of the nine grounds in the equality legislation e.g. sexual harassment, homophobic bullying, racist bullying etc.
Physical aggression
Damage to property
Name calling
Slagging
The production, display or circulation of written words, pictures or other materials aimed at intimidating another person
Offensive graffiti
Extortion
Intimidation
Insulting or offensive gestures
The “look”
Invasion of personal space
A combination of any of the types listed.

Cyber Bullying

Denigration: Spreading rumors, lies or gossip to hurt a person’s reputation
Harassment: Continually sending vicious, mean or disturbing messages to an individual
Impersonation: Posting offensive or aggressive messages under another person’s name
Flaming: Using inflammatory or vulgar words to provoke an online fight
Trickery: Fooling someone into sharing personal information which you then post online
Outing: Posting or sharing confidential or compromising information or images
Exclusion: Purposefully excluding someone from an online group
Cyber stalking: Ongoing harassment and denigration that causes a person considerable fear for his/her safety
Silent telephone/mobile phone call
Abusive telephone/mobile phone calls
Abusive text messages
Abusive email
Abusive communication on social networks e.g. Facebook/Ask.fm/ Twitter/You Tube or on games consoles
Abusive website comments/Blogs/Pictures
Abusive posts on any form of communication technology

Identity Based Behaviours

Including any of the nine discriminatory grounds mentioned in Equality Legislation (gender including transgender, civil status, family status, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, race and membership of the Traveller community).

Homophobic and Transgender

Spreading rumours about a person’s sexual orientation
Taunting a person of a different sexual orientation
Name calling e.g. Gay, queer, lesbian...used in a derogatory manner
Physical intimidation or attacks
Threats

Race, nationality, ethnic background and membership of the Traveller community

Discrimination, prejudice, comments or insults about colour, nationality, culture, social class, religious beliefs, ethnic or traveller background
Exclusion on the basis of any of the above

Relational

This involves manipulating relationships as a means of bullying. Behaviours include:

Malicious gossip
Isolation & exclusion
Ignoring
Excluding from the group
Taking someone’s friends away
“Bitching”
Spreading rumours
Breaking confidence
Talking loud enough so that the victim can hear
The “look”
Use or terminology such as ‘nerd’ in a derogatory way

Sexual

Unwelcome or inappropriate sexual comments or touching
Harassment

Special Educational Needs, Disability

Name calling
Taunting others because of their disability or learning needs
Taking advantage of some pupils’ vulnerabilities and limited capacity to recognise and defend themselves against bullying
Taking advantage of some pupils’ vulnerabilities and limited capacity to understand social situations and social cues.
Mimicking a person’s disability
Setting others up for ridicule

4.

The relevant teachers for investigating and dealing with bullying are: all class teachers, the Deputy Principal and the Principal

5.

The education and prevention strategies that will be used by the school are as follows:

School-wide approach

A school-wide approach to the fostering of respect for all members of the school community.
The promotion of the value of diversity to address issues of prejudice and stereotyping, and highlight the unacceptability of bullying behaviour.
The fostering and enhancing of the self-esteem of all our pupils through both curricular and extracurricular activities. Pupils will be provided with opportunities to develop a positive sense of self-worth through formal and informal interactions.
Whole staff professional development on bullying to ensure that all staff develops an awareness of what bullying is, how it impacts on pupils’ lives and the need to respond to it-prevention and intervention.
An annual audit of professional development needs with a view to assessing staff requirements through internal staff knowledge/expertise and external sources.
School wide awareness raising and training on all aspects of bullying, to include pupils, parents/guardians and the wider school community.
Supervision and monitoring of classrooms, corridors, school grounds, school tours and extra- curricular activities. Non-teaching and ancillary staff will be encouraged to be vigilant and report issues to relevant teachers. Supervision will also apply to monitoring student use of communication technology within the school.
Involvement of pupils in contributing to a safe school environment e.g. Buddy system, Lunchtime Pals and other student support activities that can help to support pupils and encourage a culture of peer respect and support.
Development and promotion of an Anti-Bullying code for the school-to be included in pupils’ homework diaries and displayed publicly in classrooms and in common areas of the school.
The school’s anti-bullying policy is discussed with pupils and all parents/guardians can access it via the school’s website.
The implementation of regular whole school awareness measures e.g. classroom/corridor displays promoting friendship, and bullying prevention; annual Friendship Week and parents/guardians seminars; regular school assemblies etc.
Encourage a culture of telling, with particular emphasis on the importance of bystanders. In that way pupils will gain confidence in ‘telling’. This confidence factor is of vital importance. It should be made clear to all pupils that when they report incidents of bullying they are not considered to be telling tales but are behaving responsibly.
Ensuring that pupils know who to tell and how to tell, e.g.:
Direct approach to teacher at an appropriate time, for example after class.
Hand note up with homework.
Make a phone call to the school or to a trusted teacher in the school.
Anti-bully or Niggle box
Get a parent/guardian or friend to tell on your behalf.
Administer a confidential questionnaire once a term to all pupils.
Ensure bystanders understand the importance of telling if they witness or know that bullying is taking place.
Identify clear protocols to encourage parents/guardians to approach the school if they suspect that their child is being bullied. The protocol should be developed in consultation with parents.
The development of an Acceptable Use Policy in the school to include the necessary steps to ensure that the access to technology within the school is strictly monitored, as is the pupils’ use of mobile phones.
The listing of supports currently being used in the school and the identification of other supports available to the school.

Implementation of curricula

The full implementation of the SPHE curriculum and the RSE and Stay Safe Programmes.
Continuous Professional Development for staff in delivering these programmes.
School wide delivery of lessons on bullying from evidence based programmes, e.g. Stay Safe Programme, The Walk Tall Programme.
School wide delivery of lessons on Cyber Bullying (Web wise Primary teachers’ resources) and Diversity and Interculturalism (Yellow Flag Programme).
Delivery of the Garda SPHE Programmes at primary level. These lessons, delivered by Community Gardai, cover issues around personal safety and cyber-bullying.
The school will specifically consider the additional needs of SEN pupils with regard to programme implementation and the development of skills and strategies to enable all pupils to respond appropriately.
The school will implement the advice in “Sexual Orientation advice for schools” (RSE Primary, see booklet).

6.

The school’s procedures for investigation, follow-up and recording of bullying behaviour and the established intervention strategies used by the school for dealing with cases of bullying behaviour are as follows:

Procedures for Investigating and Dealing with Bullying

The primary aim in investigating and dealing with bullying is to resolve any issues and to restore, as far as is practicable, the relationships of the parties involved (rather than to apportion blame);

The school’s procedures must be consistent with the following approach.

Every effort will be made to ensure that all involved (including pupils, parents/guardians) understand this approach from the outset.

Reporting bullying behaviour

Any pupil or parents/guardians may bring a bullying incident to any teacher in the school.
All reports, including anonymous reports of bullying, will be investigated and dealt with by the relevant teacher. Serious cases of bullying will be reported immediately to the Principal.
Teaching and non-teaching staff such as secretaries, SNAs, caretakers, must report any incidents of bullying behaviour witnessed by them, or mentioned to them, to the relevant teacher;
In the case of a complaint regarding a staff member, this should normally in the first instance be raised with the staff member in question and if necessary, with the Principal.

Investigating and dealing with incidents: Style of approach

In investigating and dealing with bullying, the teacher will exercise his/her professional judgement to determine whether bullying has occurred and how best the situation might be resolved;
Parents/guardians and pupils are required to co-operate with any investigation and assist the school in resolving any issues and restoring, as far as is practicable, the relationships of the parties involved as quickly as possible;
Teachers should take a calm, unemotional problem-solving approach.
Where possible incidents should be investigated outside the classroom situation to ensure the privacy of all involved;
All interviews should be conducted with sensitivity and with due regard to the rights of all pupils concerned. Pupils who are not directly involved can also provide very useful information in this way;
When analysing incidents of bullying behaviour, the teacher should seek answers to questions of what, where, when, who and why. This should be done in a calm manner, setting an example in dealing effectively with a conflict in a non-aggressive manner;
If a group is involved, each member should be interviewed individually at first. Thereafter, all those involved should be met as a group. At the group meeting, each member should be asked for his/her account of what happened to ensure that everyone in the group is clear about each other’s statements;
Each member of a group should be supported through the possible pressures that may face them from the other members of the group after the interview by the teacher;
It may also be appropriate or helpful to ask those involved to write down their account of the incident(s)
In cases where it has been determined by the teacher that bullying behaviour has occurred, the parents/guardians of the parties involved should be contacted at an early stage to inform them of the matter and explain the actions being taken (by reference to the school policy). The school should give them an opportunity of discussing ways in which they can reinforce or support the actions being taken by the school and the supports provided to the pupils;
Where the teacher has determined that a pupil has been engaged in bullying behaviour, it should be made clear to him/her how he/she is in breach of the school’s anti-bullying policy and efforts should be made to try to get him/her to see the situation from the perspective of the pupil being bullied;
It must also be made clear to all involved (each set of pupils and parents/guardians) that in any situation where disciplinary sanctions are required, this is a private matter between the pupil being disciplined, his or her parents/guardians and the school;

Follow up and recording

In determining whether a bullying case has been adequately and appropriately addressed the relevant teacher must, as part of his/her professional judgement, take the following factors into account:

- Whether the bullying behaviour has ceased;

- Whether any issues between the parties have been resolved as far as is practicable;

-Whether the relationships between the parties have been restored as far as is practicable;

-Any feedback received from the parties involved, their parents/guardians or the Principal/DP.

Follow-up meetings with the relevant parties involved should be arranged separately with a view to possibly bringing them together at a later date if the pupil who has been bullied is ready and agreeable.
Where a parent(s)/guardian(s) is not satisfied that the school has dealt with a bullying case in accordance with these procedures, the parent(s)/guardian(s) must be referred, as appropriate, to the school’s complaints procedures.
In the event that a parent(s)/guardian(s) has exhausted the school's complaints procedures and is still not satisfied, the school must advise the parent(s)/guardian(s) of their right to make a complaint to the Ombudsman for Children.

Recording of bullying behaviour

It is imperative that all recording of bullying incidents must be done in an objective and factual manner.

The school’s procedures for noting and reporting bullying behaviour are as follows:

Informal- pre-determination that bullying has occurred

All staff must keep a written record of any incidents witnessed by them or notified to them. Consideration needs to be given to where the records will be made e.g. incident book. All incidents must be reported to the relevant teacher
While all reports, including anonymous reports of bullying must be investigated and dealt with by the relevant teacher, the relevant teacher must keep a written record of the reports, the actions taken and any discussions with those involved regarding same
The relevant teacher must inform the principal of all incidents being investigated.

Formal Stage 1-determination that bullying has occurred

If it is established by the teacher that bullying has occurred, he/she must keep appropriate written records which will assist his/her efforts to resolve the issues and restore, as far as is practicable, the relationships of the parties involved.
The school in consultation with the teacher/s should develop a protocol for the storage of all records retained by the teacher.

Formal Stage 2-Appendix 1 (From DES Procedures)

The relevant teacher must use the recording template at Appendix 1 to record the bullying behaviour in the following circumstances:

a) in cases where he/she considers that the bullying behaviour has not been adequately and appropriately addressed within 20 school days after he/she has determined that bullying behaviour occurred; and

b) Where the school has decided as part of its anti-bullying policy that in certain circumstances bullying behaviour must be recorded and reported immediately to the Principal or Deputy Principal as applicable.

The school should list behaviours that must be recorded and reported immediately to the principal. These should be in line with the school’s code of behaviour.

When the recording template is used, it must be retained by the teacher in question and a copy maintained by the Principal. Due consideration needs to be given to where these records are kept, who has access to them, and how long they will be retained. Decisions around record keeping should be in line with the school’s Data Protection & Record Keeping Policy.

Established intervention strategies

Teacher interviews with all pupils
Negotiating agreements between pupils and following these up by monitoring progress. This can be on an informal basis or implemented through a more structured mediation process
Working with parents/guardians to support school interventions
No Blame Approach
Circle Time
Restorative interviews
Restorative conferencing
Implementing sociogram questionnaires
Peer mediation where suitable training has been given

The Procedures mention the following intervention strategies and reference Ken Rigby;

www.bullyingawarenessweek.org/pdf/BullyingPreventionStrategiesinSchools Ken Rigby.pdf

The traditional disciplinary approach
Strengthening the victim
Mediation
Restorative Practice
The Support Group Method
The Method of Shared Concern

7.

The school’s programme of support for working with pupils affected by bullying is as follows:

All in-school supports and opportunities will be provided for the pupils affected by bullying to participate in activities designed to raise their self-esteem, to develop friendships and social skills and build resilience e.g.
- Pastoral care system
- Buddy / Peer mentoring system
- Group work such as circle time
If pupils require counselling of further supports the school will endeavour to liaise with the appropriate agencies to organise same. This may be for the pupil affected by bullying or involved in the bullying behaviour.
Pupils should understand that there are no innocent bystanders and that all incidents of bullying behaviour must be reported to a teacher.
Help and support will be sought for a bully. This will include speaking with them to discover why they became involved, informing their parents/guardians and continuing to work with them in order to modify their behaviour. The school code of behaviour applies to bullying. Bullies may be excluded from the playground at lunch break or subject monitoring procedures and if bullying continues they may be suspended in accordance with procedure.
Any pupil who is involved in retaliation against a pupil who reports bullying will be subject to the school code of discipline.
Follow-up meetings may be arranged to assess progress and/or restore relationships.

8. Supervision and Monitoring of Pupils

The Board of Management confirms that appropriate supervision and monitoring policies and

Practices are in place to both prevent and deal with bullying behaviour and to facilitate early intervention where possible e.g. bullying danger spots identified, pupils involved in counteracting bullying etc.

9. Prevention of Harassment

The Board of Management confirms that the school will, in accordance with its obligations under equality legislation, take all such steps that are reasonably practicable to prevent the sexual harassment of pupils or staff or the harassment of pupils or staff on any of the nine grounds specified i.e. gender including transgender, civil status, family status, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, race and membership of the Traveller community.

10.

This policy was adopted by the Board of Management on ________________ [date].

11.

This policy has been made available to school personnel, published on the school website and provided to the Parents & Friends Committee. A copy of this policy will be made available to the Department and the patron if requested.

12.

This policy and its implementation will be reviewed by the Board of Management once in every school year. Written notification that the review has been completed will be made available to school personnel, published on the school website and provided to the Parents’ Association. A record of the review and its outcome will be made available, if requested, to the patron and the Department.