General  behaviours which apply to all types of bullying

●          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

●          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

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

●          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

●          Exclusion on the basis of any of the above

Relational

●          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

●          Harassment

Disability

●       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

●       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.

●       Professional development.

●       School wide awareness raising and training on all aspects of bullying, to include pupils, parent(s)/guardian(s) 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 the Friends for Life, Lunch time clubs 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 student journals and displayed publicly in classrooms and in common areas of the school.

●       The school’s anti-bullying policy is discussed with pupils and all parent(s)/guardian(s) are given a copy as part of the Code of Behaviour of the school.

●       The implementation of regular whole school awareness measures e.g. a bullying prevention; annual Friendship Week and parent(s)/guardian(s) seminars.

●       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.:

o   Direct approach to teacher at an appropriate time, for example after class.

o   Hand note up with homework.

o   Make a phone call to the school or to a trusted teacher in the school.

o   Get a parent(s)/guardian(s) or friend to tell on your behalf.

o   Ensure bystanders understand the importance of telling if they witness or know that bullying is taking place.

●       Identify clear protocols to encourage parent(s)/guardian(s) 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.

Implementation of curricula

●       The full implementation of the SPHE, 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.

●       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.

               Links to other policies

●       List school policies, practices and activities that are particularly relevant to bullying, e.g. Code of Behaviour, Child Protection, Supervision, Internet Acceptable Use, Sports policy.

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, parent(s)/guardian(s)) understand this approach from the outset.

Reporting bullying behaviour:

●       Any pupil or parent(s)/guardian(s) 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.

●       Teaching and non-teaching staff such as secretaries, special needs assistants (SNAs), bus escorts, caretakers, cleaners must report any incidents of bullying behaviour witnessed by them, or mentioned to them, to the relevant teacher;

Investigating and dealing with incidents:

●       In investigating and dealing with bullying, the (relevant)teacher will exercise his/her professional judgement to determine whether bullying has occurred and how best the situation might be resolved;

●       Parent(s)/guardian(s) 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 relevant 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 relevant teacher that bullying behaviour has occurred, the parent(s)/guardian(s) of the parties involved should be contacted at an early stage to inform them of the matter and explain the actions being taken. The school should give parent(s)/guardian(s) 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 relevant 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 parent(s)/guardian(s)) that in any situation where disciplinary sanctions are required, this is a private matter between the pupil being disciplined, his or her parent(s)/guardian(s) 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 parent(s)/guardian(s)s or the school Principal or Deputy Principal

●        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:

       Initial investigation that bullying may have occurred

●      All staff must complete the Antibullying Reporting Form for any incidents witnessed by them or notified to them. A copy of this report must be added to the child/children’s Aladdin file.

●       While all reports, including anonymous reports, of bullying must be investigated and dealt with by the relevant teacher, the relevant teacher must complete the relevant form, recording the issue, the actions taken and any discussions with those involved regarding same

●       The relevant teacher must inform the principal, in person, of all incidents being investigated.

       Determination that bullying has occurred

●       If it is established by the relevant teacher that bullying has occurred, the relevant teacher must keep the reporting form updated and his/her efforts to resolve the issues and restore, as far as is practicable, the relationships of the parties involved.

●      All forms must be retained by the relevant teacher and a copy of the reporting form added to the Aladdin file.

●      Follow up meetings with all involved must be recorded on Reporting Form.

●      These records will be retained by the school until all parties reach 18 years old.

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 parent(s)/guardian(s)s to support school interventions

●       No Blame Approach

●       Circle Time

●       Restorative interviews

●       www.antibullyingcampaign.ie

●       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.

✔        Are there agreed appropriate monitoring and supervision practices in the school?

✔        Have bullying danger spots been identified?

✔        In relation to Acceptable Use Policy in the school are the following issues addressed:

o   Are all Internet sessions supervised by a teacher?

o   Does the school regularly monitor pupils’ Internet usage?

o   Have pupils been instructed to use only approved class accounts for email purposes and to use these only under teacher supervision?

o   Have pupils been instructed to access only those chat rooms, discussion forums and messaging or other electronic communication fora that have been approved by the school?

(Note that the Schools Broadband Programme has blocked all social networking sites on the basis that they waste time and take up too much of the bandwidth which is been provided for educational purposes only).