Rationale:
Sydenham-Hillside Primary School is committed to providing a positive learning experience, in a safe and caring environment, in order to develop students’ self esteem and personal growth. We endeavour to promote the rights of everyone to be treated with respect and feel safe at all times.
We believe that all students are entitled to a positive, innovative and challenging educational experience. At Sydenham-Hillside Primary School our students learn within an ethos of support, challenge and are encouraged to succeed. Bullying in any form is not acceptable and it will not be tolerated.
Definition:
Bullying is when a person deliberately and repeatedly makes attempts to overpower another person by:
• Threatening them – physically or verbally/non verbally (i.e. dirty looks).
• Calling them names, reflecting their racial/gender, religion or socio economic background directly or indirectly.
• Physically attacking them including: pinching, kicking, punching, tripping, bumping, touching.
• Deliberately excluding them from friendship groups or social conversations.
• Victimising people by demanding money, food or personal belongings.
• Visually – by grafftiting their belongings, leaving notes or giving people dirty looks.
Strategies:
At Sydenham – Hillside Primary School we will encourage our student to be resilient by:
• Telling the bully that you don’t like what they are doing and they don’t have the right to do that to you.
• Telling a friend, your parents, your teacher, the yard duty teacher or the peer mediators what’s been happening.
• Asking for help by meeting with their parents, teacher or one of the Principals.
We can help stop bullying occurring by:
• Never joining in and bullying someone else.
• Telling someone about the bullying that is happening.
• Support any students who have been bullied.
At Sydenham-Hillside Primary School all students have the right to feel safe and to be able to play without the fear of being bullied.
The following procedures will be implemented when bullying has occurred.
Step 1
All complaints of bullying will be treated seriously and the person will have the opportunity to tell someone they have trust in.
Step 2
If the bullying behaviour has been confirmed the following procedures should be implemented.
• The offender/s and victim should be spoken to by a teacher or a principal separately or together depending on the nature of the bullying.
• The parents of the offender and victim may be notified, depending on the nature of the bullying.
• The victim will be given support depending on the individual’s needs.
• The offender may receive consequences appropriate to the Student Code of Conduct.
• The situation will be monitored to ensure that their behaviour does not continue.
• The victim and/or the offender may be referred for counselling depending on the nature of the bullying and how often it has occurred.
Preventing Bullying is the responsibility of the whole school community. The students, parents, teachers and staff agree that bullying will not be tolerated at Sydenham-Hillside Primary School.
The community aggrees that having a safe happy school environment is a right that everyone shares.