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ST. MARY'S COLLEGE ANTI-BULLYING POLICY.
TITLE OF POLICY:
Anti-Bullying Policy:
SCOPE:
Whole School, Student on Student, Student on Teacher, Student on Non-Teaching Staff, Teacher on Student, Non-Teaching Staff on Student.
RELATIONSHIP TO SCHOOL'S MISSION/VISION/AIMS:
"We are committed to educating the whole person to her full potential in a caring, supportive and joyful environment in partnership with parents and community", which is reinforced in the goals/objectives below.
RATIONALE:
LEGISLATION:
1. Education Act (1998)
- Section 21 (2)
- Section 22 (1)
- Section 23 (2) part (c)
- Section 27 (3)
2. Education Welfare Act (2000)
3. Equal Status Act (2000-2008)
4. Child Protection Guidelines (Circular M44/05)
SCHOOL RELATED POLICIES:
1. Admissions Policy
2. Code of Behaviour Policy
3. SPHE & RSE Policy
4. Career Guidance Policy
5. Dignity in the Work Place
GOALS/OBJECTIVES
POLICY CONTENT
DEFINITIONS OF BULLYING:
"Bullying is repeated aggression, verbal, psychological or physical, conducted by an individual or a group against one or more people" (DES 1993).
"Bullying is unwanted and unwarranted behaviour that hurts and is detrimental to the well being of the recipients, limiting their opportunities to be effective and satisfied at work" (Kitt 1999).
"Cyber-bullying is when a student is tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed or otherwise targeted by another student, using the Inter-net interactive and digital technologies or mobile phones"
Homophobia is the fear of being labelled and/or the fear, dislike or hatred of gay males and lesbians.
Homophobic Bullying:
Is where general bullying behaviour such as verbal and physical abuse and intimidation is accompanied by or consists of the use of terms such as gay, lesbian, queer or lezzie by perpetrators. Lgbt refers to persons who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.
The term bullying also encompasses harassment and sexual harassment, defined as follows:
Harassment: any form of unwanted conduct in relation to any of the nine grounds, named in the equality legislation that has the purpose or effect of violating a person's dignity and creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading or offensive environment of the victim.
The nine grounds are gender, marital status, family status, age, disability, sexual orientation, race, religion, and membership of the Traveller community.
Sexual Harassment: any form of unwanted verbal, non-verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature that has the purpose or effect of violating a person's dignity and creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading or offensive environment for the victim.
Examples of Bullying Behaviour:
Student Behaviour:
Physical aggression, damage to property, extortion, intimidation, abusive telephone calls, abusive texts or use of social network sites in an abusive way, isolation, name calling, slagging, and bullying of school personnel.
"Slagging", is harassment when it entails remarks that are "suggestive about a pupil's sexual orientation"
Teacher Behaviour:
Sarcasm, demeaning language, making negative comments about a pupil's appearance or background, humiliating a pupil who is particularly academically weak or outstanding or vulnerable in other ways, using any gesture or expression of a threatening or intimidatory nature, or any form of degrading physical contact or exercise.
Note: This is not an exhaustive list of behaviour of a bullying nature, so all forms of bullying behaviour may not be included. The behaviour must be of a repeated nature to warrant being labeled as bullying behaviour. (Refer to definitions of Bullying above)
Note: The prohibition will apply to all aspects of school life: in the classroom, during extra-curricular activities, on school trips, on the sports field or any situation while under the care of the school.
DESIGNATION OF BULLYING AS MISBEHAVIOUR
"Bullying shall be deemed to be misbehaviour for the purposes of the School's Code of Behaviour"
PROCEDURES:
FORMAL NOTING:
All incidents of bullying will be noted by the teacher to whom the student has reported.
A noting form will be completed and handed to the Year Head.
If a serious case of bullying it will be referred immediately to the Principal and or Deputy Principal.
Year Head will keep record of all noting forms.
REPORTING:
1. Students:
A student who feels that she is the victim of bullying should report it to an adult - parent/guardian, teacher, senior student such as Head Girl, Vice Head Girl, or Liaison Student, or, if necessary, the Principal or Deputy Principal.
Students who are aware of bullying behaviour should report to a teacher.
2. Parents/Guardians:
Parents/Guardians who become aware of a student being bullied should inform school authorities, e.g. Year Head, Deputy Principal, Principal or a teacher.
3. Teachers:
All teachers are encouraged to be vigilant to the occurrence of bullying at all times, and to report and note accordingly.
4. Non-Teaching Staff: (e.g., Secretary, SNA, Caretaker, Cleaning Staff, Bus Drivers)
Non-teaching staff such as administrative, caretakers, facilities personnel are encouraged to report any incidents of bullying behaviour witnessed by them, to the appropriate teaching member of staff.
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.
Where cases, relating to either a pupil or a teacher are unresolved at school level, the matter will be referred to the School's Board of Management.
If not resolved at Board level, it will become a complaint and the school's Complaint Procedure shall come into operation.
In order to appeal a decision, a parent/student or teacher may request a review by writing to the Principal/Board of Management.
REQUIREMENTS:
Incident Sheet (see appendix)
An Incident Sheet will have 2 sections, the Noting Section and Reporting Section
All incidents no matter how trivial will be noted (recorded on the incident sheet, noting section)
Reporting section will be completed by Year Head on receipt of noting form and will document actions taken where necessary.
INVESTIGATING AND DEALING WITH BULLYING BEHAVIOUR:
In a calm, sensitive, supportive, impartial and non confrontational manner, the Year Head, Deputy Principal/Principal will interview at the earliest opportunity:
The Year Head, Deputy Principal/Principal will have a written record of interviews. The final records will be retained in the Principal's Office
These investigations will be conducted outside the classroom environment to avoid public humiliation of parties involved but to the extent necessary to protect the welfare of other students a student suspected of bullying may be called out of class while the investigation is going on.
When analyzing incidents of bullying behaviour answers to questions of what, where, when, who and why will be sought.
If a group is involved each member will be interviewed individually and then the group will be met as a group.
Each member will be asked for their account of what happened to ensure that everyone is clear about what everybody else has said.
If it is concluded that a pupil has been engaged in bullying behaviour, it will be made clear to her that she is in breach of the Code of Behaviour and Discipline.
Teachers investigating will keep a written record of their discussions with those involved.
The teacher will ask those involved to write down their account of the incident.
In cases where it has been determined that bullying behaviour has occurred, parent/guardians of pupils involved will be contacted to explain to them the actions being taken and the reasons for them, referring them to the school policy.
A separate follow-up meeting with the parties involved will be arranged to bring parties together at a later date if the victim is ready and agreeable. (DES Guidelines 1993)
After a period of time it will be confirmed with the affected student/parents/guardians that there have been no further incidents of bullying.
SANCTIONS:
If a student is caught bullying the sanctions include:
(See Journal - Code of Behaviour)
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
Roles and Responsibilities:
The whole school management team (Principal, Deputy Principal, Year Heads, Tutors, Care Team, Teachers) will be responsible for ensuring that the policy is implemented.
Monitoring implementation:
Parents/guardians and all members of staff;
Include on agenda for teaching staff meetings at least once a year.
Possible Optional Monitoring Procedures
Low Level:
Teachers - Incident Book
Student-Teacher relationships
Teacher and student representative - Liaison Students
High Level:
Tutors
Year Heads
Principal/Deputy Principal
Career Guidance/Counsellor
Outside Counselling
Social Services or Gardaí - Juvenile Liaison Officer
Review and evaluation:
Full review every five years.
SUCCESS CRITERIA:
Success Criteria:
Well-being and happiness of the whole school community.
The school community find the policy effective.
IMPLEMENTATION PROGRAMME:
Legislation/equality proofing:
Approved by a solicitor who has expertise in this area before being passed to the Board of Management for approval. Ratified: 4th November 2010
Circulation:
This policy will be circulated to all partners involved;
Implementing the Policy:
Procedures are in place to support and implement the policy.
ST MARYS COLLEGE
ANTI-BULLYING INCIDENT SHEET
NOTING SECTION:
Date of Report:_______________________________________________
Person Reporting:_____________________________________________
Person Receiving the Report:____________________________________
Details of what was reported:_____________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Signed by persons involved:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
INVESTIGATING AND DEALING WITH BULLYING BEHAVIOUR SECTION
Details of investigation:______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
Results of investigation:__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Action Taken: (include details of contact with parents/guardians and sanctions)
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Signed by persons involved:____________________________________________________