Piercestown NS (18558E)
Anti-bullying policy
1 INTRODUCTION: 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 Piercestown NS 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 KEY PRINCIPLES:
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 positive school culture and climate which is welcoming of difference and diversity and is based on inclusivity which encourages pupils to disclose and discuss incidents of bullying behaviour in a non-threatening environment; and which promotes respectful relationships across the school community;
- Effective leadership;
- A school-wide approach;
- A shared understanding of what bullying is and its impact;
- 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;
- Supports for staff;
- Consistent recording, investigation and follow up of bullying behaviour (including use of established intervention strategies); and
- On-going evaluation of the effectiveness of the anti-bullying policy.
3. DEFINITION:
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
– 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 which was reviewed in 2018.
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 Code of Behaviour policy.
4 RELEVANT TEACHERS: The relevant teacher for investigating and dealing with the bullying are as follows:
- The class teacher in the first instance
- The principal
- The Deputy Principal
- Other teachers
5 PREVENTION STRATEGIES
The education and prevention strategies (including strategies specifically aimed at cyber- bullying and identity-based bullying including in particular, homophobic and transphobic bullying) that will be used by the school are as follows:
- developing a sense of self worth in the pupils
- raising awareness amongst all pupils about cyber-bully by organising presentations and talks as well of as part of their yearly SPHE programme e.g. Zeeko
- raising awareness amongst parents about cyber-bullying e.g. webwise.ie , Internet Safety Day February 10th
- raising awareness amongst parents of resources such as tacklebullying.ie and antibullyingcentre.ie
- taking particular account of students with special/additional educational needs
- promoting inclusion in our school particularly with the introduction of our special class in September 2019
- taking age and gender of children into account
- organising a programme of professional development for school staff about bullying/ inclusion , as part of the Croke Park Agreement when required
- teaching the Stay Safe Programme to all classes
- teaching the Walk Tall and RSE programmes as per SPHE policy
- raising awareness of bullying amongst non-teaching staff
6 INVESTIGATION, FOLLOW-UP and RECORDING:
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 BULLYING
(i) The primary aim for the relevant teacher 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);
(ii) 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;
(iii) All reports, including anonymous reports of bullying must be investigated and dealt with by the relevant teacher. 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 by getting help when it is needed;
(iv) Non-teaching staff such as secretaries, special needs assistants (SNAs), bus escorts, caretakers, cleaners must be encouraged to report any incidents of bullying behaviour witnessed by them, or mentioned to them, to the relevant teacher;
(v) Parents 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;
(vi) It is very important that all involved (including each set of pupils and parents) understand the above approach from the outset;
(vii) Teachers should take a calm, unemotional problem-solving approach when dealing with incidents of alleged bullying behaviour reported by pupils, staff or parents;
(viii) Incidents are generally best investigated outside the classroom situation to ensure the privacy of all involved;
(ix) 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;
(x) 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;
(xi) 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;
(xii) Each member of a group should be supported through the possible pressures that they may face them from the other members of the group after interview by the teacher;
(xiii) It may also be appropriate or helpful to ask those involved to write down their account of the incident (s);
(xiv) In cases where it has been determined by the relevant teacher that bullying behaviour has occurred, the parents 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 parents an opportunity of discussing ways in which they can reinforce or support the actions being taken by the school and the supports for their pupils;
(xv) 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;
(xvi) It must also be made clear to all involved (each set of pupils and parents) that in any situation where disciplinary sanctions are required, this is a private matter between the pupil being disciplined, his or her parents and the school;
(xvii) 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. This can have a therapeutic effect;
In cases where the relevant teacher considers that the bullying behaviour has not been adequately and appropriately addressed within 20 school days after he/she has determined that bullying behaviour has occurred, it must be recorded by the relevant teacher in the recording template and reported to the Principal and/or Deputy Principal;
(xix) 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 or the school principal or Deputy Principal
(xx) Where a parent is not satisfied that the school has dealt with a bullying case in accordance with these procedures, the parents must be referred, as appropriate, to the school’s complaints procedures;
In the event that a parent has exhausted the school’s complaints procedures and is still not satisfied, the school must advise the parents of their right to make a complaint to the Ombudsman for Children.
7 PROCEDURES FOR RECORDING BULLYING
The Board of Management must ensure that the school has clear procedures for the formal noting and reporting of bullying behaviour and these must be documented in the school’s anti-bullying policy. All records must be maintained in accordance with relevant data protection legislation. The school’s procedures for noting and reporting bullying behaviour must adhere to the following;
(i) While all reports, including anonymous reports of bullying must be investigated and dealt with by the relevant teacher, the relevant teacher will use his/her professional judgement in relation to the records to be kept of these reports, the actions taken and any discussions with those involved regarding same;
(ii) If it is established by the relevant teacher that bullying has occurred, the relevant teacher 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.
(iii) The relevant teacher must use the recording template provided (appendix A) 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;
b) that where the relevant teacher considers the bullying to be sufficiently serious it will be recorded and reported immediately to the Principal and/or Deputy Principal.
In each of the circumstances at (a) and (b) above, the recording template must be completed in full and retained by the teacher in question and a copy provided to the Principal or Deputy Principal. It should also be noted that the timeline for recording bullying behaviour in the recording template at does not in any way preclude the relevant teacher from consulting the Principal or Deputy Principal at an earlier stage in relation to a case.
In cases where a school has serious concerns in relation to managing the behaviour of a pupil, the advice of the National Education Psychological Service (NEPS) will be sought. Serious instances of bullying behaviour will, in accordance with the Children First and the Child Protection Procedures for Primary and Post-Primary Schools, be referred to the HSE Children and Family Services and/or Gardaí as appropriate.
8 SUPPORT FOR AFFECTED PUPILS:
The school’s programme of support for working with pupils affected by bullying is as follows :
- opportunities to raise a sense of self-worth and self-esteem counselling may, if required, be sought through NEPS and/or school completion
- opportunities to build friendships and social skills pupils will be closely monitored and observed;
peer support will be provided, consistent with the age of the child
9. 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.
10. PREVENTION OF HARRASSMENT
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.
11. This policy was originally adopted by the Board of Management on 10th April 2014.
12 This policy has been made available to school personnel, published on the school website and provided to the Parents’ Association. A copy of this policy will be made available to the Department and the patron if requested.
13 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 Piercestown Parents’ Association. A record of the review and its outcome will be made available, if requested, to the patron and the Department.
Fr. John O’Reilly (Chairperson of the Board of Management)
Laura Walsh (Principal)
20th October 2020
Appendix A – Recording template (as per Antibullying Procedures for Primary and Post Primary)
1. Name of pupil being bullied and class group
Name _________________________________________Class__________________
2. Name(s) and class(es) of pupil(s) engaged in bullying behaviour
| _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ | |||||
| 3. Source of bullying concern/report (tick relevant box(es))* | 4. Location of incidents (tick relevant box(es))* | ||||
| Pupil concerned | Playground | ||||
| Other Pupil | Classroom | ||||
| Parent | Corridor | ||||
| Teacher | Toilets | ||||
| Other | School Bus | ||||
| Other |
5. Name of person(s) who reported the bullying concern
6. Type of Bullying Behaviour (tick relevant box(es)) *
| Physical Aggression | Cyber-bullying | ||
| Damage to Property | Intimidation | ||
| Isolation/Exclusion | Malicious Gossip | ||
| Name Calling | Other (specify) |
7. Where behaviour is regarded as identity-based bullying, indicate the relevant category:
| Homophobic | Disability/SEN related | Racist | Membership of Traveller community | Other (specify) |
8. Brief Description of bullying behaviour and its impact
- Details of actions taken
Signed ______________________________ (Relevant Teacher) Date ___________________________
Date submitted to Principal/Deputy Principal ___________________
* Note: The categories listed in the tables 3, 4 & 6 are suggested and schools may add to or amend these to suit their own circumstances.
Piercestown National School 