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

Scoil Mhuire, Dristernan, Gleneely 

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 whichwere published in September 2013.

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-

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 bullying behaviour are included in the definition of bullying:

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 bullyingbehaviour.

Negative behaviour that does not meet this definition of bullying will be dealt with in accordance with the school’s code of behaviour.

Please note that the Department Of Education’s guidelines on bullying state that 

“It must be made clear to all involved (each set of pupils and parents) that in any situation where disciplinary sanctions are required, this is a private matter between the pupil being disciplined, his or her parents and the school.” 

The Department’s guidelines also state that ““parents and pupils are also required to co-operate with any investigation and assist the school in resolving any issues and restoring, as far as is practicable, the relationships of the parties involved as quickly as possible.”

Additional information on different types of bullying is set out in Section 2 of the Anti-Bullying Procedures for Primary and Post-Primary Schools.

 The relevant teacher(s) for investigating and dealing with bullying is (are) as follows:  (see Section 6.8 of the Anti-Bullying Procedures for Primary and Post-Primary Schools):

Class teachers

Nicola Humphries (School Principal)

Joan Mc Candless (Deputy Principal)

Any teacher may act as a relevant teacher if circumstances warrant it. The education and prevention strategies (including strategies specifically aimed at cyber- bullying, homophobic and transphobic bullying) that will be used by the school are as follows (see Section 6.5 of the Anti-Bullying Procedures for Primary and Post-Primary Schools):

Dealing with Reports of Bullying

All reports of bullying will be dealt with by either

a) The No Blame Approach

b) The Common Concern Approach  or

c) The Investigative Approach

A. The No Blame Approach

The No Blame Approach is a non-punitive approach to bullying.  It creates a support group for the victim and follows 8 clearly defined steps.

Step One – meet with the victim

When informed that bullying has happened the teacher starts by talking to the victims about their  feelings.  The teacher does not question them in detail about the incidents but they do need to know who was involved.

Step two – convene a meeting with the people involved

The teacher arranges to meet with the group of pupils who have been involved.  This will include the bully, some bystanders or colluders and even friends of the victim who joined in but did not initiate any bullying.  A group of six to eight people works well.  Victim not present.

Step three – explain the problem

The teacher tells them about the way the victim is feeling (exclude any information likely to cause embarrassment )[[“I have a problem as xxxxx is not happy at school and I need your help to solve my problem” - teacher describes the problem]].  S/he might use a poem, piece of writing or a drawing to emphasise the victim’s distress.  At no time does the teacher discuss the details of the incidents or allocate blame to the group.  This must not be discussed with the class.

Step four – share responsibility

The teacher does not attribute blame but states that they know that the group are mature, responsible children and can do something about it.

Step five – ask the group for their ideas

Each member of the group is encouraged to suggest a way in which the victim could be helped to feel happier.  The teacher gives some positive responses but does not go on to extract a promise of improved behaviour.

Step six – leave it up to them

The teacher ends the meeting by passing over the responsibility to the group to solve the problem.  The Teacher arranges to meet with them again to see how things are going.

Step seven – meet them again

About a week later the teacher discusses with the group (or each helper individually) how things have been going.  This allows the teacher to monitor the bullying and keeps the group of children involved in the process.

Step eight – checks with the victim 

The teacher makes a point of regularly checking with the victim.

B. The Common Concern Approach.”

The incident is taken seriously. Action is taken asap, having found out who? What ? When ? Where and How ?

The victim is reassured.

Help, group support and advice is given to the victim and the situation monitored to avoid reoccurrence. .

It is made plain to the perpetrator(s) that these actions are disapproved of.

The perpetrator is encouraged to see the victim’s point of view.

The child apologies in person or in writing.

In some circumstances sanctions may be applied

Realistic, firm and consistent guidelines are set to help control the perpetrators behaviour.

The incident will be recorded by the teacher privately or officially in the school files.

The parents/guardians of the perpetrator and victim will be informed.

Investigative Approach 

Where the investigative approach is to be used the school will follow the guidelines set down by the Department of Education and Science.

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 (see Section 6.8 of the Anti-Bullying Procedures for Primary and Post-Primary Schools) :

Procedures for Noting and Reporting and Incident of Bullying Behaviour

All reports of bullying, no matter how trivial, will be taken seriously by our school.  Where warranted, incidents will be dealt by the investigative approach

Serious cases of bullying behaviour by pupils will be referred immediately to the Principal.  

Parents/guardians of victims and bullies will be informed by Principal or the deputy principal at the earliest convenient time. Parents will be encouraged to use this opportunity to discuss the matter with their child.  They are then in a position to help and support their children before a crisis occurs.  The class teacher will inform Parents/guardians if he/she has suspicions or concerns that a child is suffering from bullying. 

Repeat incidents of bullying will be reported immediately to the Principal.

All serious reported incidents of bullying will be recorded that have not been resolved within 20 days – using DES record template

Inter class problems will be dealt with by the Principal

"It takes a village to raise a child."  Non teaching staff members such as secretaries, special needs assistants, caretakers, cleaners and those directly associated with the school, e.g. bus drivers, school traffic warden,  will be encouraged to report any incidents or bullying behaviour mentioned to them or witnessed by them to the Principal.  

Parents/guardians will be informed that the appropriate person to whom they can make their enquiries regarding incidents of bullying behaviour, which they might suspect or that have come to their attention through their children or other parents/guardians is the Class Teacher or the Principal. 

It will be made clear to all pupils that when they report incidents of bullying they are not telling tales but are behaving responsibly.  

At anti-bullying meetings the principal will outline our policies on bullying by defining what is unacceptable behaviour, explaining how this is a "telling and listening school" and how their child should respond to bullying in a non-violent fashion.

In a case where a child reports a bullying incident to a teacher which has taken place outside of school, the teacher will tell the child to report the incident to his parent/guardian and also follow accepted school procedures.

Where a report of bullying has been received outside the school context, from a non-member of the school Community the report will be relayed to the parents/guardians of the victim or bully in a non-judgemental fashion.

Procedures used in the Investigative Approach

Teachers will take a calm, unemotional, problem solving approach when dealing with bullying incidents.  Such incidents will be investigated outside the classroom situation to avoid the public humiliation of the victim or the pupil engaged in bullying behaviour.  In any incident the teacher will speak separately to the pupils involved, in an attempt to get both sides of the story.  All interviews will be conducted with sensitivity and with due regard to the rights of all pupils concerned.  Pupils who are not directly involved can also provide very useful information in this way.  

In a case where alleged bullies are from a different class to the victim, interviews will involve both class teachers and be conducted in a location away from classroom.

If a group/gang is involved each member will be interviewed individually and then the group/gang will be met together.  At this group meeting, each member will be asked for his account of what happened to ensure that everyone is clear about what everyone else has said.  

If it is concluded that a pupil has engaged in bullying behaviour, it will be made clear to them how they are in breach of the Code of Conduct and every efforts will be made to get them to see the situation from the victim's point of view.  

Each member of the group/gang will be helped to handle the pressures that often face them from the other members after the interviews.  

Investigating teachers will keep a written record of their discussions with those involved.  Where appropriate those involved will write down their account of the incident.  

In cases where it has been determined that serious bullying behaviour has occurred, a member of staff will meet with the parents/guardians of the two parties involved as appropriate.

The actions taken will be explained and the reasons for them, referring them to school policy.   Ways in which they can reinforce or support the actions taken by the school will be discussed..  

Follow-up meeting will be arranged with the two parties involved separately with a view to possibly bringing them together at a later date if the victim is ready and agreeable.  This can have a therapeutic effect.  

The Principal, while having responsibilities as outlined above, will be regarded as a resource and record-keeper for the staff and not an intermediary between parent and teacher.

Bullying Incident Report 

All pupils in the school have a school record file.  A Bullying Incident Report will be filed if in the opinion of the class teacher, or Principal, there is proof that bullying has occurred and warrants being put on record.

This report may be in the form of a Initial Report (Yellow Card) or an Offence Report (Red Card). An Offence Report may be filed without going through the Initial Report stage if the offence is deemed to merit it (Straight Red). In all cases parents/guardians of both perpetrators and victims will be informed.

 The school’s programme of support for working with pupils affected by bullying is as follows (see Section 6.8 of the Anti-Bullying Procedures for Primary and Post-Primary Schools) :

ABC – Box

Coping Strategies – e.g. repetitive techniques, quick action responses etc…

Self-Esteem Enhancement skills

No Blame Approach support committee

Assemblies and powerpoint presentations based around supporting victims of bullying

Raising awareness through anti-bullying/friendship weeks

Stay Safe

RSE Programme

Webwise

Circle Time

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.

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 thenine grounds specified i.e. gender including transgender, civil status, family status, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, race and membership of the Traveller community.

This policy was adopted by the Board of Management on 2nd December 2013.

This policy has been made available to school personnel, published on the school website (or where none exists, is otherwise readily accessible to parents and pupils on request) and provided to the Parents’ Association (where one exists). 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