School is a social learning environment and one important aspect of learning  relates to students developing their understandings of relationships and friendship. As our learners learn more about themselves, they should also be helping each other to be better at getting along and being respectful of all.   When parents ask about bullying it is usually  in terms of what they can do to support students to understand what bullying is and what they can do to stop it. Our  annual bully audit shows that there continue to be many students who are not really clear about what bullying is and isn’t.   Our school policy defines bullying as follows:

Bullying occurs when somebody who is less powerful than another person or a group is deliberately and (typically) repeatedly hurt without in any way deserving that treatment. Bullying can take many forms and can be direct or indirect, including the following behaviours:

Physical – hitting, pushing, spitting, throwing things, getting another person to harm someone

Social– exclusion

Verbal – teasing, harassing, name-calling

Emotional or psychological – rumour spreading, threatening

Cyber –This includes pretending to be someone else to gain information, posting or sending nasty or threatening messages, posting pictures without permission, threatening using technology.

All classes will again be working towards ensuring students understand what bullying is and how they can respond to bullying if they experience it themselves or as a bystander. Most often our work  in this  area, at home and at school, is around helping children understand how respectful friendships and relationships work.

Please find a link to some information that will help you to support your child.

http://bullyingnoway.gov.au/parents/index.html