Anti Bullying Policy

Gilson NS
Anti-Bullying Policy (Revised 2015)

The school position

The Gilson NS school community believes that each pupil has a right to an education free from fear and intimidation.

The school regards bullying as a serious infringement of individual rights and a serious threat to the self-esteem and self-confidence of targeted pupil(s). Therefore, it does not tolerate bullying of any kind.

Every report of bullying is treated seriously and dealt with, having due regard for the well-being of the targeted pupil(s) and the perpetrator(s).

The school principal and deputy principal will respond immediately to any report of bullying along with the support of all staff members to cultivate an environment free from bullying.

The immediate priority, should a bullying incident occur, is ending the bullying, (thereby protecting the person(s) being targeted) and resolving the issues and restoring the relationships involved insofar as is practicable using a “Reform, not Blame” approach.

All pupils are expected to contribute to the creation and maintenance a safe environment in the school. On becoming aware of any bullying situation, in or outside the school, involving members of the school community they should notify a trusted responsible adult. Bullying behaviour is too serious not to report.

Pupils’ participation in school life in general is encouraged through existing school structures. Awareness of bullying, and willingness to take action to prevent or stop it, is part of this participation.

Anti-Bullying Policy

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 Gilson 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.
The Board of Management recognizes 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 in which –

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

Effective leadership;

The principal and deputy principal have a key role in dealing with bullying behaviour because they are in a strong position to influence attitudes and set standards in dealing with such behavior. However, all teachers and staff members are expected to be leaders in this regard and engender an ethos under which bullying is unacceptable.
As pupils model their behaviour on that of adults, all staff members will be careful to act as good role models, being fair, firm, clear and consistent in their disciplinary measures.
The Code of Professional Conduct for Teachers published by the Teaching Council makes explicit the values and standards expected of teachers in their daily work with pupils.
The NEWB publication Developing a Code of Behaviour: Guidelines for Schools recognises the role of all adults, including parents, in modelling good behaviour and states “The adults in the school have a responsibility to model the school’s standards of behaviour, in their dealings both with pupils and with each other, since their example is a powerful source of learning for pupils. Parents should be expected to model the standards that pupils are asked to respect. In order to do this, they need to be familiar with the standards and to understand the importance of expecting pupils to behave according to these standards. The ways in which parents and teachers interact will provide pupils with a model of good working relationships

A school-wide approach;

A school-wide approach (involving school management, staff, parents and pupils) to dealing with the problem of bullying behaviour is a key element of effective practice. Bullying behaviour affects not only those immediately involved. It can affect everyone in the classroom, in the school and, ultimately, in the wider community.
A positive school-wide attitude and involvement can assist considerably in countering bullying behaviour in schools. In addition to the role of management and staff, parents and pupils have a role and responsibility in helping the school to prevent and address school-based bullying behaviour and to deal with any negative impact within school of bullying behaviour that occurs elsewhere. Parents should also recognise that a school that openly discusses bullying is acting positively and that they need to work with their school to ensure there is a coherent, school-wide approach to tackling the issue.
Bullying behaviour thrives in an atmosphere of uncertainty and secrecy in which the pupil often feels a sense of hopelessness and futility against the power being exercised by the person engaged in bullying behaviour. A high degree of school-wide vigilance and openness is important in ensuring that bullying behaviour can be adequately tackled.
The promotion of relevant home/school/community links is important for all schools in regard to countering bullying behaviour and will be encouraged as a normal part of the school’s effective operation. For example, bullying behaviour can often occur on the journey to and/or from school. The anti-bullying school policy will embrace, as appropriate, those members of the wider community who come directly in daily contact with school pupils e.g. bus drivers.
In certain cases, however, it may be necessary for the school to seek the assistance of formal agencies such as NEPS, HSE social workers, Gardaí etc.

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. 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 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.
This definition includes a wide range of behaviour, whether verbal or written, whether physical or social, whether targeting person or property, whether carried out directly or indirectly or through any electronic or other medium, which could harm a pupil or undermine her/his self-esteem or self-confidence.

Appendix 1 gives a list of specific examples of bullying behaviour. This list is not exhaustive.
Additional information on different types of bullying is set out in Section 2 of the Anti-Bullying Procedures for Primary and Post-Primary Schools.
4. The “Relevant Teacher(s)” for investigating and dealing with bullying in this school are as follows:

Mr. Carey (Principal)
Mrs. O’Reilly (Deputy Principal)
The class teacher

5.The education and prevention strategies (including strategies specifically aimed at cyber-bullying and identity based bullying) used by the school are as follows:
The anti-bullying module of the SPHE programme (Stay Safe), as it applies during each school year,
At least four awareness-raising exercises per school year for each class group from 2nd class upwards ( from the “Awareness-Raising” strand of the Anti-Bullying Campaign, via its website), pro-actively explaining the nature and variety, causes, consequences and unacceptability of bullying.

Pupils are helped to examine the issue of bullying in a calm rational way, outside of the tense context of particular bullying incidents. In the process they are made more aware of the nature of bullying and the various forms that it can take.
Pupils are made aware that the consequences of bullying behaviour are always bad for those who are targeted, even if this is not always obvious at the time.
Pupils are encouraged to recognise, reject and report bullying behaviour, either spontaneously or through questionnaires that are used in the school. Each class teacher has a resource pack for this purpose.

Through presentations or other exercises, the school staff and parents/guardians are made aware of the nature of bullying and the signs that might indicate that a pupil is being bullied. They are encouraged to be vigilant in watching out for signs of bullying and to report any suspicion of bullying they may have to the Principal (in the case of staff members) or any staff member (in the case of parents/guardians).

An annual anti-bullying day (end of September),

6. The school’s procedures for investigation, follow-up and recording of bullying behaviour and the established interventions are the strategies used on the Anti-Bullying Campaign website are as follows:

ESTABLISHING THE FACTS; The ‘Relevant Teacher(s)’ investigates all instances of reported or suspected bullying behaviour, whether these take place within the school or outside it, with a view to establishing the facts and bringing any such behaviour to an end. An ‘Incident Report’ is completed by the teacher or the person that the bullying was reported to.

Following this, the school through the ‘Relevant Teacher(s)’ reserves the right to ask any class/pupil to write an account of what happened, as part of an investigation. This will be a standard procedure and does not necessarily imply that a pupil is guilty of misbehaviour. Standard questionnaire forms are used to for this purpose.

INTERVIEWING THE ALLEGED PERPETRATOR; Pupils who are alleged to have been involved in bullying behaviour are interviewed by the ‘Relevant Teacher(s)’ to establish the nature and extent of the behaviour and any reasons for it. A standard form is used for this purpose. The pupil is withdrawn from class for the interview and a second member of staff will be present as an observer.

At this point the pupil is told that when the interview is over they will be asked to make a promise and keep it, and that if they do there will be no penalty.
In the event that they have been involved in bullying behaviour they are asked to sign a binding promise that they will treat all pupils fairly, equally and respectfully including the targeted pupil(s), (PUPIL PROMISE, Stage 1)
The ‘Relevant Teacher(s)’ do not apportion blame but rather treats bullying behaviour as a "mistake" that can and must be remedied. They emphasise that the intention is not to punish perpetrators but to talk to them, to explain how harmful and hurtful bullying is and to seek a promise that it will stop. If that promise is forthcoming and is honoured there will be no penalty and that will be the end of the matter. Pupils who report bullying therefore are not getting others "in trouble" so much as enabling them to get out of trouble into which they may ultimately get if the bullying continued.
However, if they are not honest such a promise could then not be trusted so the ‘Reform, not Blame’ approach would have be shelved and the matter goes to the next stage.

FURTHER RESOLUTIONS/SANCTIONS; If a pupil has not been honest or if a pupil has signed such a promise but then chooses to break that promise and continue the bullying behaviour, this can then no longer be considered a "mistake". In this event parent(s)/guardian(s) will be informed and requested to countersign their daughter/son’s promise (PUPIL/PARENT PROMISE, Stage 2). Breach of this additional promise by further bullying behaviour is regarded as a very grave matter and a serious sanction may be imposed by the school authorities e.g.multiple detention.

Parent(s)/guardian(s) will be contacted by the ‘Relevant Teacher’ and informed of the nature and extent of the bullying behaviour with a view to agreeing a strategy whereby a promise to end the bullying behaviour would be honoured;
Parent(s)/guardian(s) may be invited to a meeting with the ‘Relevant Teacher’ and the Principal and the pupil may be suspended from school.
The case may be referred to the Board of Management and the pupil may be expelled from the school.

KEEPING RECORDS: When an investigation is completed and/or a bullying situation is resolved the ‘Relevant Teacher(s)’ will complete a report (Action Taken form), to include the findings of the investigation, the strategy adopted and the outcome of the intervention, as well as any other relevant information.

All documentation regarding bullying incidents and their resolution is retained securely in the school.
A Resource Pack adapted from the Anti-Bullying Campaign website is made available to all staff members of Gilson NS.

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

Bullied pupils:

Ending the bullying behaviour,
Changing the school culture to foster more respect for bullied pupils and all pupils,
Changing the school culture to foster greater empathy towards and support for bullied pupils,
Indicating clearly that the bullying is not the fault of the targeted pupil through the awareness-raising programme,
Indicating clearly that the bullying is not the fault of the targeted pupil through the speedy identification of those responsible and speedy resolution of bullying situations,
After resolution, enabling bullied pupils to complete a victim-impact statement,
Making adequate counselling facilities available to pupils who need it in a timely manner,
Helping bullied pupils raise their self-esteem by encouraging them to become involved in activities that help develop friendships and social skills (e.g. participation in group work in class and in extra-curricular group or team activities during or after school).,

Bullying pupils:

Making it clear that bullying pupils who reform are not blamed or punished and get a “clean sheet,”
Making it clear that bullying pupils who reform are doing the right and honorable thing and giving them praise for this,
Making adequate counselling facilities available to help those who need it learn other ways of meeting their needs besides violating the rights of others,
Helping those who need to raise their self-esteem by encouraging them to become involved in activities that develop friendships and social skills (e.g. participation in group work in class and in extra-curricular group or team activities during or after school),
Using learning strategies throughout the school and the curriculum to help enhance pupils’ feelings of self-worth,
In dealing with negative behaviour in general, encouraging teachers and parents to focus on, challenge and correct the behaviour while supporting the child,
In dealing with bullying behaviour seeking resolution and offering a fresh start with a “clean sheet” and no blame in return for keeping a

promise to reform.

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.
9. The Board of Management confirms that the school will, in accordance with its obligations under equality legislation, take all such steps as 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. The Board of Management adopted this policy on 26th November 2015.
11. This policy has been made available to school personnel, published on the school website (and is readily accessible to parents and pupils on request) and provided to the Parents’ Association. A copy of this policy will be made available to the Department of Education and Skills and to 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 is readily accessible to parents and pupils on request) and provided to the Parents’ Association. A record of the review and its outcome will be made available to the Department of Education and Skills and to the patron if requested.

Signed: Mark Carey             Date: 26-11-15
(Principal)………………………………………
Signed: William Smith           Date: 26-11-2015
(Chairperson of Board of Management)……………………………………………….

Appendix 1

Bullying can take a number of forms. These may include any of the following (this list is not exhaustive):

Repeated aggressive behaviour/attitude/body language, for example:

Shouting and uncontrolled anger,
Personal insults,
Verbal abuse,
Offensive language directed at an individual,
Continually shouting or dismissing others,
Public verbal attacks/criticism,
Domineering behaviour,
Open aggression,
Offensive gestures and unwanted physical contact.

Intimidation, either physical, psychological or emotional, for example:

Treating in a dictatorial manner,
Ridicule,
Persistent slagging,
Deliberate staring with the intent to discomfort.
Persistent rudeness in behaviour and attitude toward a particular individual.
Asking inappropriate questions/making inappropriate comments re. personal life/family
Asking inappropriate questions/making inappropriate comments re. social life or schoolwork.

Interference with property, for example:

Stealing/damaging books or equipment
Stealing/damaging clothing or other property
Demanding money with menaces
Persistently moving, hiding or interfering with property
Marking/defacing property

Undermining/Public or Private Humiliation, for example:

Condescending tone,
Deliberately withholding significant information and resources,
Writing of anonymous notes,
Malicious, disparaging or demeaning comments,
Malicious tricks/derogatory jokes,
Knowingly spreading rumours,
Belittling others’ efforts, their enthusiasm or their new ideas,
Derogatory or offensive nicknames (name-calling),
Using electronic or other media for any of the above (cyber bullying),
Disrespectfully mimicking a particular individual in his/her absence,
Deliberately refusing to address issues focusing instead on the person.

Ostracising or isolating, for example:

Deliberately marginalising an individual
Deliberately preventing a person from joining a group,
Deliberately preventing from joining in an activity, schoolwork-related or recreational
Blaming a pupil for things s/he did not do.