Anti-bullying Policy Statement

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 St. Fursey's National School 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.

Our anti-bullying policy is informed by the principles of: Empathy, Creativity, Leadership and Teamwork. Our school promotes a shared responsibility in fostering habits of mutual respect, courtesy and social responsibility and has a clear commitment in identifying and preventing bullying and aggressive behaviour. The school promotes the right of each member of the school community to enjoy school in a secure environment and towards this end has a definite policy and procedure for dealing with bullying.

Bullying is neither an inevitable part of school life, nor a necessary part of growing up and it rarely sorts itself out without intervention.Bullying can affect everyone, not just the bullies and the victims. It can also affect those other children who watch; some pupils can be drawn-in by group pressure. Only when all issues of bullying are addressed, will a child best be able to benefit from the opportunities available in school.

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;

-encourages pupils to disclose and discuss incidents of bullying behaviour in a non-threatening environment; and

-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 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.

We define bullying as 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 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.

The relevant teachers for investigating and dealing with bullying are as follows:

Principal – Orla Vallely

Deputy Principal – Mary Brennan

Class teacher of pupil/s in question

The education and prevention strategies (including strategies specifically aimed at cyber- bullying and identity-based bullying including in particular, homophobic bullying) that will be used by the school are as follows:

Staff at all times will endeavour to encourage pupils to show respect for each other.

The Anti-bullying Programme will be fully implemented in the school – this includes class lessons on awareness and resolution.

Parents are encouraged to visit the Stay Safe website and a link is provided from the school website.

The SPHE curriculum provides opportunities for role playing bullying incidents and conflict resolution.

Extra- curricular activities are encouraged to help develop pupils’ self esteem and experience the discipline of following rules in sport.

Speakers will be invited to address staff and parents’ groups in relation to cyber-bullying, homophobic and transphobic bullying. Eg. Community Garda and ISPCC .

The holding of a FRIENDSHIP WEEK each year in conjunction with the Stay Safe Programme.

Organise the community in order to minimise opportunities for bullying; make sure that supervision is sufficient at all times.

Deal quickly, firmly and fairly with any complaints, involving parents where necessary.

Regularly review the school policy and procedures and assess its success or otherwise.

When buying teaching materials (books, posters, software etc) ensure that nothing gives a negative view of any group because of their ethnic origin, gender etc.

Continue to have a firm and fair Code of Behaviour.

Encourage pupils to discuss how they get on with other people and to form positive attitudes towards other people. This includes work on friendship and what it really means.

Encourage pupils to treat everyone with care and respect.

Treat bullying as a serious matter and take every possible action to prevent it happening in our school.

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:

Stage 1 – Establishing the facts

1.  Following a report that a pupil is being bullied a class survey is carried out.

This protects the source of the information from any kind of retaliation or additional bullying since the information could then have come from anyone surveyed.

2.  An incident report form is filled in by the class teacher.

3.  An Action Taken form is filled in to record the progress of the investigation preferably as it happens.

Stage 2 – Interviewing an alleged perpetrator

1.  The pupil is withdrawn from class for the interview, which is usually one-to-one, but in particularly serious situations or where a pupil is likely to be uncooperative a second staff member may be present as an observer.

2.  The pupil is assured that if he/she were being bullied the perpetrator of that bullying would now be facing interview. They are then, in an indirect way given a chance to admit treating another pupil disrespectfully and they may do so at this stage. If they do, they are then invited to say what kind of disrespectful treatment was involved.

3.  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. However, if they are not honest in going through the checklist such a promise could then not be trusted so the "Reform, not Blame" approach would have to be shelved and the matter handed over to the Principal.

4.  The pupil is then asked to sign a written promise, which will be countersigned by the interviewer, committing him/her to treating the targeted pupil fairly and respectfully in future. The promise form used is partly a standard form that states their right and the right of all others to be treated with fairness, equality and respect. It then goes on: "I therefore promise that in future I will treat all my fellow-pupils fairly, equally and respectfully despite our differences and whether I like them or not. In particular . . ." to which the interviewer adds, in block letter handwriting, in the presence of the perpetrator, "I will always treat N. (the targeted pupil's name) fairly and respectfully." This is then signed and dated by the interviewer and offered to the perpetrator to sign.

5.  An alternative form is available which requires a parent's signature.This form will be used if (a) the bullying was of a particularly serious nature, (b) the pupil was less than fully cooperative during the interview (e.g. trying to avoid blame or deny the facts), or (c) the pupil had previously bullied, had promised to stop and had broken that promise.

Regular class surveys (at least once a term) will be carried out whether or not a bullying incident has been reported. Pupils are reminded that there will be no penalty for perpetrators of bullying behaviour provided they promise to stop and keep that promise.

- 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

Bullies and victims may need to explore and plan ways to change. At all stages records will be kept of any intervention used to resolve the difficulties.

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

Victims

Victims are reassured from the outset that they are NOT to blame.

Strategies for restoring self-esteem are explored between teacher and parents/guardians

Where deemed necessary, the child in consultation with parents may be referred for counselling

Staged approach - class support, school support (as per Continuum - Behavioural, Emotional and Social difficulties- NEPS)

All staff dealing with a bullying incident will, as well as reasoning with the pupil perpetrating the negative behaviour, also offer support and comfort to the victim.

Peers

 Formal programmes of work are a vital element in raising children's self-esteem and equipping children to cope with bullying behaviour e.g. Anti bullying programme, Walk Tall, RSE, Alive-O, Stay safe, Webwise and ISPCC,

 Positive reinforcement by teachers in classroom setting. Modeling of respectful behaviour and language by teachers and staff.

 Promotion of extra-curricular activities which encourage co-operation among pupils

 Rewarding of incidents of good behaviour at class level and whole-school .

 Encouraging students to look out for each other and to be responsible for their own behaviour.

 Immediate affirmation of children who report incidents of bullying which they have witnessed

 Circle time sessions, role-play, Socially Speaking program and puppetry are methodologies which are used to discuss and explore issues of bullying

 To prepare a “quiet room” for circle time and other programmes

 Friendship week

Bullies

 Where deemed necessary, the child in consultation with parents may be referred for counseling. They may need to learn other ways of meeting their needs without violating the rights of others. Empathy awareness needs to be developed.

 Clinical referral and assessment may be necessary.

 Staged approach- class support, school support

Strategies for restoring self-esteem are explored between teachers and parents/guardians.

If following the procedures above, the issue remains, the school's code of behaviour will then implemented and the issue will be treated as 'Serious Misbehaviour'.

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.

The school cannot be responsible for disagreements between pupils that happen outside school grounds.

Prevention of Harassment

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.

See our adult anti-bullying /sexual harassment POLICY.

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This policy was adopted by the Board of Management on

1st September 2015.

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.

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 (or where none exists, be otherwise readily accessible to parents and pupils on request) and provided to the Parents’ Association (where one exists). A record of the review and its outcome will be made available, if requested, to the patron and the Department.

Reviewed November 2016

Signed: ______Signed: ______

Fr. Brian White Orla Vallely

Chairperson B.O.M. School Principal