POLICIES

PEER-ON-PEER ABUSE

DEFINITION
There is no clear boundary between incidents that should be regarded as abusive and incidents that are more properly dealt with as bullying, sexual experimentation, and so forth. This is a matter of professional judgement. If a student causes harm to another, this should not necessarily be dealt with as abuse: bullying, fighting and harassment between children are not generally seen as child protection issues. 

However, it may be appropriate to regard a student’s behaviour as abusive if: 

• There is a large difference in power (for example age, size, ability, development) between the young people concerned; or

• The perpetrator has repeatedly tried to harm one or more other students; or

• There are concerns about the intention of the alleged student.

If the evidence suggests that there was an intention to cause severe harm to the victim, this should be regarded as abusive whether or not severe harm was actually caused. 

PREVENTION
As a school RIS will minimize the risk of allegations against other students as follows: 

• Section counselors work with identified students on assertiveness and how to stay safe  

• Digital citizenship lessons are embedded into the ES and MS curriculum 

• Explicit units on bullying, cybersafety, and safe touch are taught in the ES/MS sections

• Develop an E-Safety and Technology policy in order to keep students safe

• Develop a system for students to raise concerns with employees, knowing that they will be listened to, believed and valued  

PHYSICAL ABUSE
Physical abuse may include hitting, kicking, nipping, shaking, biting, hair pulling, or otherwise causing physical harm to another person. There may be many reasons why a student harms another and it is important to understand why a student has engaged in such behaviour, including accidentally, before considering the action or consequences to be undertaken.

BULLYING (please also see Anti-Bullying Policy)
Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behaviour among students that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behaviour is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. Both students who are bullied and who bully others may have serious, lasting problems.

In order to be considered bullying, the behaviour must include all of the following:

• An imbalance of power: Students who bully use their power—such as physical strength, access to embarrassing information, power in numbers, or popularity—to control or harm others. Power imbalances can change over time and in different situations, even if they involve the same people.

• Repetition: Bullying behaviours happen more than once or have the potential to happen more than once.

• Intent to hurt/harm: Bullying behaviors are meant to cause the student that is being bullied to feel distressed, upset, hurt, or embarrassed.

Bullying includes actions such as:

• Making threats

• Spreading rumours

• Attacking someone physically or verbally or for a particular reason (e. g. size, hair colour, race, gender, sexual orientation)                   

• Excluding someone from a group on purpose

CYBERBULLYING
Cyberbullying is the use of phones; instant messaging, e-mail, chat rooms or social networking sites (Instagram, Snapchat, Discord, LINE, online gaming platforms) to harass, threaten or intimidate someone for the same reasons as stated above. It is important to know that cyberbullying can very easily fall into criminal behaviour, and legal action could be warranted.  

SEXTING
Sexting is when someone sends or receives a sexually explicit text, image or video. This includes sending “nude pics”, “rude pics” or “nude selfies.” Pressuring someone into sending a nude picture can happen in any relationship and to anyone, regardless of their age, gender or sexual preference. However, once the image is taken and sent, the sender has lost control of the image and these images could end up anywhere. It is important to know that sexting can very easily fall into criminal behaviour, and legal action could be warranted. 

EMOTIONAL ABUSE
Emotional abuse can include blackmail or extortion and may also include threats and intimidation. This harmful behaviour can have a significant impact on the mental health and emotional wellbeing of the victim and can lead to self harm.

SEXUAL ABUSE
Sexually harmful behaviour from students is not always contrived or with the intent to harm others. There may be many reasons why a student engages in sexually harmful behaviour and it may be just as distressing to the student who instigates it as well as the student it is intended towards. 

Sexually harmful behaviour may include: 

• Offensive/unwanted sexual language 

• Sexual role play 

• Unwanted touching (including private parts)

• Coercion to watch pornography 

• Coercion to participate in sexting

SEXUAL EXPLOITATION
This can include encouraging other students to engage in inappropriate sexual behaviour or grooming and recruiting members of the peer group into being sexually exploited by other students or adults. It can also include photographing or videoing other students performing indecent acts.

PREJUDICED BEHAVIOR
The term prejudice-related bullying refers to a range of hurtful behaviour, physical or emotional or both, which causes someone to feel powerless, worthless, excluded or marginalised, and which is connected with prejudices around belonging, identity and equality in wider society – for example disabilities and special educational needs, ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds, gender, home life, (for example in relation to issues of care, parental occupation, poverty and social class) and sexual identity.

TEENAGE RELATIONSHIP ABUSE
Teenage relationship abuse is defined as a pattern of actual or threatened acts of physical, sexual, and/or emotional abuse, perpetrated by an adolescent (between the ages of 13 and 18) against a current or former partner. The abusive teen uses a pattern of violent and coercive behaviour, in a heterosexual or same gender relationship, in order to gain power and maintain control over the partner.

Relationship abuse may include: 

• Insults 

• Coercion  

• Social sabotage  

• Sexual harassment  

• Threats 

• Acts of physical abuse

• Acts of sexual abuse

EXPECTED EMPLOYEE ACTION
It is important to deal with a situation of peer abuse immediately and sensitively. RIS employees should consider the factors listed below before deciding to report the incident as a child safeguarding concern. All staff are encouraged to speak with section level counselors or administration after witnessing or intervening in a negative student interaction. 

Factors to consider:

• Chronological and developmental ages of everyone involved

• Difference in their power or authority in relation to age, race, gender, social status, physical, emotional or intellectual vulnerability

• Whether the behaviour involved inappropriate sexual knowledge or motivation

• The degree of physical aggression, intimidation, threatening behaviour or bribery

• The effect on the victim

• Any attempts to ensure the behaviour and incident is kept a secret

• The student’s motivation or reason for the behaviour

• Whether this was a one-off incident, or longer in duration

FURTHER ACTION
RIS employees will work in partnership with the counselor and administration to determine if this incident should be considered as a child safeguarding issue. If such a determination is made, RIS child safeguarding reporting procedures will be followed.