Anti-Bullying

ROSARY COLLEGE

ANTI-BULLYING POLICY

Reference

This Policy is informed and consistent with the following documents:

DES Guidelines on Countering Bullying Behaviour in Post Primary Schools, 1993
The Education Act, 1998
Education Welfare Act, 2000
Equal Status Acts, 2000 to 2004
Child Protection Procedures for Primary and Post-Primary Schools, 2017
Children First: National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children, 2017
Rosary College Code of Behaviour

Introduction

Rosary College is a coeducational voluntary secondary school serving the community of Crumlin and Dublin 12. A gentle caring atmosphere pervades our school where good relationships are fostered between staff, students, parents, management and community to the development of mutual trust and thus facilitating true partnership. In our daily life we value the principles of justice, mutual respect, equality and tolerance leading to the promotion of a positive self-image and the confidence to achieve the highest levels.

The Anti-Bullying Policy sets out the framework within which the whole school community manages issues relating to bullying and the school’s strategy to prevent bullying behaviour.

The Board of Management recognises the very serious nature of bullying and the negative impact it can have on the lives of pupils and is therefore fully committed to the following strategies and key principles of best practice in preventing and addressing bullying behaviour:

A positive school culture and climate
Effective leadership
A school-wide approach
A shared understanding of bullying and its impact on others. Excerpts from the Anti-Bullying Policy will be visible throughout the school in corridors and classrooms
Implementation of education and prevention strategies including awareness raising measures

– The procedure for resolving bullying will be published in the students’ journal

– The Anti-Bullying Policy will be promoted at various occasions such as school assemblies, open nights and meetings with parents

– Anti-Bullying programmes will be run in all classes in SPHE and RE throughout the year

– A Friendship Week will be held in the school on an annual basis

Effective supervision and monitoring of students
Supports for staff
Consistent recording, investigation and follow up of bullying behaviour
On-going evaluation of the effectiveness of the anti-bullying policy

Definition of bullying

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
Identity-based bullying such as homophobic bullying, racist bullying, bullying based on a person’s membership of the Traveller community, 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. These 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.

Additional information on different types of bullying is set out in Appendix 1 below.

Resolving Bullying

Students will be encouraged to report bullying to Year Head or Tutor. Students are free to talk with any teacher who will forward information to Tutor.
Tutor will speak to both students separately and will offer both the support of the Guidance Counsellor.
The Tutor will file an incident report sheet.
The Home School Community Liaison Teacher will make informal contact with both sets of parents/guardians and ask them to have a word with their own child.
If a second incident arises with the same student, the Tutor will fill in a second incident report. Both reports will be forwarded to the Year Head.
Year Head will meet students and issue a verbal warning. Both students will be offered support of the Guidance Counsellor.
The Year Head will contact Parents/Guardians and inform them of the situation. Parents are free to make an appointment to discuss the issue.
If there is a third bullying incident, the Year Head will fill in an incident report sheet and forward all three reports to the Deputy Principal. The Deputy Principal will contact the Parents/Guardians as a matter of urgency to set up a meeting.
The student will now be dealt with in the context of the School’s Code of Behaviour. Copies of all three incident sheets will be filed by the Deputy Principal.
The school staff and management will work hard with Parents/Guardians and pupils to bring about a resolution as soon as possible.
Any incidents of Physical Aggression or abusive Behaviour will not be tolerated. Students will, in these situations, bypass the three stages above and be referred immediately to the Code of Behaviour. Parents/Guardians will be notified immediately.
Parents/Guardians are encouraged to contact the Tutor or Home School Community Liaison Teacher if they have any concerns about bullying.
If a Parent/Guardian has any evidence of bullying, he/she should contact the Year Head to make an appointment to discuss the issue.
If a Parent/Guardian believes their child to be a victim of physical or abusive behaviour, they should contact the Principal or Deputy Principal immediately to make an appointment. Parents/Guardians have the right to contact the Principal or Deputy Principal to make an appointment any time they have concerns relating to bullying.
The Board of Management reserves the right to have recourse to outside agencies where appropriate.

This policy is subject to periodic review.

Signed:__________________________________

Chairperson of Board of Management

Date:____________________________________

Appendix 1 Types of Bullying

Physical

• Any form of violence against another person including making physical threats

• Damaging somebody’s property

• Intimidating somebody in a physical way

• Invading someone’s personal space

Verbal

• Name calling or name belittling, slagging or teasing, “bitching”

• Making sarcastic remarks, sniggering, gestures

• Spreading rumours

• Making unpleasant remarks

• Producing, displaying or circulating written words, pictures or other material aimed at intimidating another person or causing hurt and/or distress

• Putting down a student for working well and/or achieving

• Talking loud enough so the victim can hear

Psychological

• Isolating another person e.g. preventing another student from participating in class activities

• Tormenting another person

• Giving a person “the look”

• Staring

• Taking or hiding another person’s belongings

Homophobic

• Name calling e.g. Gay, queer, lesbian, etc…

• Spreading rumours about a person’s sexual orientation

• Taunting a person of a different sexual orientation

• Excluding somebody on the basis of their sexual orientation

Racial: Discrimination against, prejudice towards, comments or insults being made or somebody being singled out or isolated/excluded due to colour, nationality, cultural practices, social class, religious beliefs, ethnic or traveller background

Relational: involves manipulating relationships as a means of bullying. Behaviours include:

• Whispering in company so as to exclude another

• Malicious gossip

• Isolation & exclusion

• Ignoring somebody, turning others against a student

• Excluding from the group

• Taking someone’s friends away

Cyber

• Abusive telephone/mobile phone calls or ‘silent’ phone calls

• Abusive text messages

• Abusive email

• Abusive website comments/blogs/pictures e.g. Facebook, Twitter, ask.fm and others

• Any misuse of Information and Communication Technology

• Video recording

• Taking/sending/circulating photographs by electronic device

• Creating sites about a particular person

• Spreading rumours

• Breaking confidence

Sexual

• Unwelcome sexual comments or touching

• Harassment

• Unwelcome sexual texts or emails

• Looking or staring at somebody in a way which makes them uncomfortable.

Harassment: Harassment based on any of the nine grounds in the equality legislation e.g. sexual harassment, homophobic bullying, racist bullying etc.

Extortion: Demanding money from somebody. This can often be accompanied by threats – physical, verbal and/or psychological. Targets may also be forced into theft on behalf of the person/people who engage in bullying.

Appendix 2 Signs of Bullying

Psychological

Behavioural

Anger
Anxiety
Distress
Frustration
Depression
Panic
Indifference
Fear
Suicidal thoughts
Attempted suicide
Shame and feelings of worthlessness
Loss of trust in friends and their inability to support and protect
Increased irritability and nervousness
Unexplained changes in mood
Increased aggressiveness
May believe that they deserve to be bullied
Becoming withdrawn
Excessive tearfulness or sensitivity to criticism
Substance abuse
Becoming obsessive
Nightmares

Physical Manifestations

Social, Interpersonal and School Related

Chest pain
Patterns in minor illness
Insomnia
Stomach problems
Eating problems
Fatigue and lethargy
Headaches
Sweats
Inconsistent explanation for cuts and bruises
Anxiety
Mitching
Late home from school without any plausible explanation
Fear of using school toilets during breaks
Fear of being out of sight of adults
Becoming isolated in class
Becoming withdrawn
Reluctance to discuss the problem
Unwilling to go to school
Lack of creativity and initiative
Beginning to bully small/younger students
Possessions missing or damaged
Increased and excessive requests for money
Deterioration in school performance and motivation
Loss of interest or concentration in school
Unusual concerns about physical appearance, attributes, mannerisms

Appendix 3 Bullying Behaviour Record Form

1. Name & class of person being bullied

Name:

Class:

2. Name of person reporting the bullying concern & Location of incident (tick relevant)

Name:	Source	Location
Person concerned		Lunch room
Other pupil		Classroom
Parent		Corridor
Teacher		Toilets
Other		School Bus
		Other

3. Type of bullying (tick relevant box(es)

Physical		Relational
Verbal		Cyber
Psychological		Sexual
Homophobic		Extortion
Racial		Harassment

4. Where behaviour is regarded as identity based bullying, indicate the relevant category:

Homophobic	Disability/SEN related	Racist	Membership of Traveller Community	Other (specify):

5. Brief description of the bullying behaviour and its impact:

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6. Details of actions taken and by who?

7. Follow up:

Signed by Year Head/Member of Management dealing with incident:

__________________________________ Date: _______________________

8. Details of Further follow up action:

Signed by Year Head/Member of Management dealing with incident:

_________________________________ Date: _______________________

Any other relevant information

Meeting Record:

Present at Meeting	Time	Date	Outcome

Any statements made by those involved in the incident should be appended to this document and stored with it.

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