Anti Bullying Processes including Cyber Bullying
| anti-bullyingpolicy2010.pdf |
Supporting a Child Who Is Being Bullied.
A person is bullied when they are intentionally exposed, regularly and over time, to negative or harmful actions by one or more other people. Bullies are people who deliberately set out to intimidate, exclude, threaten and/or hurt others repeatedly. Bullying is a clear form of harassment.
Bullying is not just a problem for the victim, it is also a problem for the school. At Ardtornish P.S we have an Anti-Bullying Policy and we work hard to ensure students feel safe and are empowered to report problems but still there is always a degree of bullying that can go unreported.
CHILDREN WHO ARE BULLIED
Children who bully sometimes pick on just anyone, and sometimes choose other children who seem to be easy to hurt: They may pick on children who
SIGNS OF BEING BULLIED
Children who are being bullied may not always tell adults. They may be afraid or ashamed. Some signs of being bullied may be:
WHAT PARENTS CAN DO
Keep in contact until the problem is sorted out.
REMINDERS
A person is bullied when they are intentionally exposed, regularly and over time, to negative or harmful actions by one or more other people. Bullies are people who deliberately set out to intimidate, exclude, threaten and/or hurt others repeatedly. Bullying is a clear form of harassment.
Bullying is not just a problem for the victim, it is also a problem for the school. At Ardtornish P.S we have an Anti-Bullying Policy and we work hard to ensure students feel safe and are empowered to report problems but still there is always a degree of bullying that can go unreported.
CHILDREN WHO ARE BULLIED
Children who bully sometimes pick on just anyone, and sometimes choose other children who seem to be easy to hurt: They may pick on children who
- look or are different in some way
- are stressed, either at home or at school
- have a disability
- struggle with school work
- are not good at sport
- lack social confidence
- are anxious
- are unable to hold their own because of being smaller or weaker or younger.
SIGNS OF BEING BULLIED
Children who are being bullied may not always tell adults. They may be afraid or ashamed. Some signs of being bullied may be:
- not wanting to go to school
- finding excuses for not going to school, eg feeling sick
- wanting to go to school a different way to avoid the children who are bullying them
- being very tense, tearful and unhappy after school
- talking about hating school
- bruises or scratches
- talking about not having any friends
- refusing to tell you about what happens at school.
WHAT PARENTS CAN DO
- Listen to your child and take his/her feelings and fears seriously.
- Try not to take everything into your own hands, unless it is absolutely necessary, because this is likely to make your child feel less in control.
- Help your child to work out what ideas he/she has about coping with the problem. Write them down. Include a few of your own if needed to get started. Then talk with him/her about which ones might help or not help and why. Choose an idea that he/she would like to try and then check out how it works.
- Don't call your child names eg "weak" or "a sook" and don't let anyone else do so.
- If the bullying is verbal teasing, you may be able to help your child learn to ignore it, so the child who is doing it does not get any satisfaction out of it. You could practise at home ways to help your child gain confidence eg the way to walk past with his/her head up.
- Help your child think of ways to avoid the situation eg by going a different way home, or staying with a group.
- Some children are helped by imagining a special wall around them which protects them so that the hard words bounce off.
- Work on building your child's confidence in things he/she does well.
- Make a list of the things that have happened to your child. Be clear about his/her suffering. Be prepared to name the children who bully. If bullying persists, write down WHO, WHAT, WHERE and WHEN.
- Talk to our school Principal or Deputy Principal, about the school's way of dealing with bullying and what steps they take to prevent it and protect children from it.
Keep in contact until the problem is sorted out.
REMINDERS
- Let your child know that bullying is wrong.
- Take your child's fears and feelings seriously.
- Reassure your child that being bullied is not his/her fault, and that something can be done about it.
- Let your child know that he/she is not the only one who is bullied. It happens to lots of children.
- Help your child as far as possible to work out his/her own ways of dealing with the problem.
- Don't allow the bullying to continue.
- Protect your child - involve the school or club or wherever it is happening.
- Help your child to feel good about the other things in his/her life.
Cyber Bullying
The internet has become an integral part of life for people of all ages. It provides access to a myriad of information and enables people to research, create and communicate in new and exciting ways.
For children and young people the internet has become essential to learning, playing and socialising, with many of them using computers and the internet from an increasingly early age.
But there are risks. Children may, unwittingly or deliberately, share personal information without realising that they could be subject to identity theft, or that they are leaving behind content which might not reflect well on them in the future.
They might be exposed to content which is sexually explicit, violent, prohibited or even illegal.
They might experience cyber bullying or be at risk from contact by strangers. Teenagers, in particular, might be caught out by the commercial side of the internet, through advertising, scams or through sharing downloads of music or television programs.
We continue to actively educate the students at Ardtornish through our cyber safety lessons but you as parents play a critical role in helping them have safe and positive experiences online.
For more information and assistance please check out the website below:
Kids Helpline - http://www.kidshelp.com.au
Cyber Smart - http://www.cybersmart.gov.au
We actively work to ensure no child at Ardtornish Primary School ever encounters a problem
For any more information please contact me at school
Steven Whitehead (IT Coordinator)
For children and young people the internet has become essential to learning, playing and socialising, with many of them using computers and the internet from an increasingly early age.
But there are risks. Children may, unwittingly or deliberately, share personal information without realising that they could be subject to identity theft, or that they are leaving behind content which might not reflect well on them in the future.
They might be exposed to content which is sexually explicit, violent, prohibited or even illegal.
They might experience cyber bullying or be at risk from contact by strangers. Teenagers, in particular, might be caught out by the commercial side of the internet, through advertising, scams or through sharing downloads of music or television programs.
We continue to actively educate the students at Ardtornish through our cyber safety lessons but you as parents play a critical role in helping them have safe and positive experiences online.
For more information and assistance please check out the website below:
Kids Helpline - http://www.kidshelp.com.au
Cyber Smart - http://www.cybersmart.gov.au
We actively work to ensure no child at Ardtornish Primary School ever encounters a problem
For any more information please contact me at school
Steven Whitehead (IT Coordinator)