STATEMENT

Our College is committed to our duty of care in providing a safe and caring environment within a culture that respects diversity. This enables positive relationships between all students and staff which encourages self-esteem, co-operation, personal growth and a positive attitude to learning and teaching.

Bullying is when someone, or a group of people, deliberately upset or hurt another person or damage their property, reputation or social acceptance on more than one occasion. There is an imbalance of power in incidents of bullying with the bully or bullies having more power at the time due to age, size, status or other reasons.

Bullying may occur because of perceived differences such as culture, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, ability or disability, religion, body size and physical appearance, age or economic status. Bullying may be motivated by jealousy, distrust, fear, misunderstanding or lack of knowledge. It can continue over time, is often hidden from adults and will probably continue if no action is taken.

Bullying includes:

  • teasing or ridiculing others;
  • making rude and unwanted personal comments;
  • offensive body language;
  • pushing , hitting, kicking or pinching;
  • making rude gestures;
  • malicious gossip;
  • mischievous complaints;
  • racist or sexist comments;
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  • exclusion;
  • supporting the bullying or harassment of others;
  • telephone or internet abuse;
  • writing abusive notes or letters;
  • writing graffiti about someone or their family;
  • sexual harassment;
  • damaging another person’s personal property;
  • cyberbullying

DEFINITIONS

Direct physical bullying: including but not limited to: hitting, kicking, tripping, pinching and pushing, unwanted touching or damaging property.

Direct verbal bullying: including but not limited to:name calling, insults, teasing, intimidation, comments of a sexual nature, homophobic or racist remarks, or verbal abuse.

Indirect bullying: is often harder to recognise and can be carried out behind the bullied person’s back. It is designed to harm someone’s social reputation and/or cause humiliation.

Indirect bullying including but not limited to: lying and spreading rumours, playing nasty jokes to embarrass and humiliate, mimicking, encouraging others to socially exclude someone, damaging someone’s social reputation or social acceptance.

Cyberbullying: is direct verbal or indirect bullying behaviours using digital technologies. This includes harassment via abusive texts and emails, hurtful messages, images or video, nasty on line gossip and chat, setting up a defamatory personal website or deliberately excluding someone from social networking spaces.

What bullying is not

Many distressing behaviours are not examples of bullying even though they are unpleasant and often require teacher intervention and management.

Mutual conflict: involves an argument or disagreement between people but not an imbalance of power. Both parties are upset and usually both want a resolution. Unresolved mutual conflict can develop into bullying if one of the parties targets the other repeatedly in retaliation.

Social rejection or dislike: is not bullying unless it involves deliberate and repeated attempts to cause distress, exclude or create dislike by others.

Single-episode acts: of nastiness or physical aggression are not the same as bullying. If someone is verbally abused or pushed on one occasion they are not being bullied. Nastiness or physical aggression that is directed towards many different people is not the same as bullying. However, this does not mean that single episodes of nastiness or physical aggression should be ignored or condoned as these are unacceptable behaviours.

Unacceptable behaviour

Unacceptable behaviour in the school environment refers to a wide range of behaviours that are not acceptable or appropriate, as outlined in our school’s Student Engagement Policy and Values matrix. This includes harassment, discrimination and a threat or act of violence.

Harassment

Harassment is behaviour intended to annoy, disturb, threaten or upset another person. Harassment and bullying may involve similar behaviours as both usually involve a person or group of people who have, or are perceived to have, more power deliberately upsetting someone on more than one occasion. Harassment may also occur because of perceived differences such as culture, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or religion.

Sexual harassment is unlawful behaviour under the Racial Discrimination Act 1975, Commonwealth Sex Discrimination Act 1984 and the Victorian Equal Opportunity Act 1995. It occurs when a person engages in any unwelcome or unreciprocated conduct of a sexual nature (written or verbal), in circumstances which could reasonably be expected to cause offence, humiliation or intimidation.

Bullying (in all its forms) and harassment are both unlawful and unacceptable at Hampton Park Secondary College.

  1. Every student has the right to feel safe from bullying at the College.
  2. The College has a Whole School Positive Behaviour Program based on the agreed values of the College. See College Staff and Student Matrices (SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS).
  3. This College strives to provide a safe environment by implementing Restorative Practices that aims to promote positive student behaviour, prevent anti-social behaviour, and encourage respect, compassion and cooperation.
  4. The college takes a whole-school approach that focuses on safety and wellbeing throughout all school practices.

PURPOSE

This policy aims

  • to define the roles and responsibilities in the prevention and response to bullying and harassment.
  • to develop an understanding of college and community expectations around decreasing anti-social behaviours and promoting pro-social behaviours amongst the students.
  • to empower bystanders to intervene and report incidents of bullying and harassment.
  • to create empathy and understanding of the impact of the bullying behaviour on others.

GUIDELINES

The following guidelines will be adhered to in relation to bullying and cyber bullying at the College:

ADMINISTRATION:

RIGHTS / RESPONSIBILITIES
  • Are supported in developing and implementing the school’s plan to prevent and effectively manage bullying.
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  • Provide leadership in resourcing the school’s prevention and effective management of bullying;
  • implement the school plan;
  • ensure parents are informed of the school plan; and
  • support staff to implement the school’s plan.

STAFF:

RIGHTS / RESPONSIBILITIES
  • Feel safe and supported in the workplace;
  • access to curriculum resources suitable for supporting students in building positive relationships, resiliency, safety and bullying prevention;
  • are informed of the school’s plan on bullying;
  • are treated with respect in the workplace; and
  • access to professional learning in preventing and effectively managing bullying.
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  • Promote and model positive relationships;
  • participate in implementing the school plan to counter bullying;
  • identify and respond to bullying incidents;
  • teach students how to treat other with care and respect;
  • teach students how to respond effectively to bullying;
  • promote social problem solving with students; and
  • respect and accept individual differences.

STUDENTS:

RIGHTS / RESPONSIBILITIES
  • Access to curriculum that supports the building of resiliency;
  • are informed of the school’s plan on bullying; and
  • if involved, are provided with support to stop bullying.
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  • Treat members of the community with care and respect; and
  • To help someone who is being bullied or harassed
  • To approach a staff member or an appropriate peer if they, or someone else, is being bullied or harassed – either at school or on the way to or from school
  • read, sign and return the digital users agreement (SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS)

PARENTS:

RIGHTS / RESPONSIBILITIES
  • Expect children to be safe and provided with a supportive school environment and treated with respect; and
  • are provided with access to information on the prevention and response strategies related to bullying.
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  • Support and encourage children to treat others with respect and act in accordance with the school plan if they observe bullying;
  • encourage children to report bullying incidents; and
  • awareness of school plans and support school in effectively managing bullying.
  • awareness of the schools use of restorative practices (SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS)
  • read, sign and return the digital users agreement (SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS)

Procedure:


Restorative Practices:

Restorative Practices is a whole school approach to promoting resilience and aims to contribute to the building of positive relationships in school communities. It is focused on helping young people become aware of the impact of their behaviour on others through personal accountability and learning from a conflict situation. An important component of restorative practices is the focus on restoring relationships after harm has been done.

Where deemed appropriate a restorative conference will occur with the student manager or wellbeing team member or representative and the students involved in the bullying. Restorative conferences are aimed to improve the relationship between the students. Not all bullying situations are appropriate for restorative conferences. This will be determined by the student well-being team and year level management team. Students will be prepared for the restorative conference so they have a clear understanding of the process and what will be expected out of them.

Mediators can be members of the Wellbeing team, student management team or other restorative practices trained teachers. The mediator will remain impartial and not be concerned assigning blame or punishment. The focus is on mediation, which is detailed in supporting documents – A parents guide to restorative conferences.

Students will also be referred to wellbeing for further support.

Primary Prevention:

  • Regular professional development for staff relating to bullying, harassment and proven counter measures.
  • The provision of programs that promote inclusiveness, resilience, life and social skills, assertiveness, conflict resolution and problem solving will form an integral part of our curriculum and extra-curricular activities. In particular, assertiveness training and bystander training that builds skills in students to challenge and/or report unacceptable behaviour throughout the Health (7 – 10) and ALIVE (7-8) courses.
  • Anti-bulling messages and posters will be displayed around the school.
  • Structured activities will be available to students at lunch breaks to prevent student isolation.
  • Teachers will be trained in cybersafety. Cybersafetyinformation will be made available to parents (SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS) andcybersafety will form part of the curriculum.
  • Educate the school community about the seriousness of cyber-bullying, its impact on those being bullied, how cyber-bullying occurs and consequences of cyber-bullying
  • All students to be provided with individual and confidential computer and network passwords. Processes to be put in place to ensure tracking of student activity on the school’s computer equipment and network. Firewalls to be installed to eliminate outside traffic into the school’s network and intranet.

B.Isolated, Infrequent or Less Serious Incidents:

  • All instances of suspected bullying or inappropriate behaviour must be responded to by staff.
  • Once identified each perpetrator, victim and witnesses will be spoken with, and all incidents or allegations of bullying will be fully investigated and documented.
  • Parents are encouraged to contact the school if they suspect a bullying or behaviour problem.
  • The school will reinforce with students the importance of appropriately reporting incidents of inappropriate behaviour involving themselves or others, and the imperative that staff respond appropriately and proportionally to each allegation consistent with the school’s Student engagement guidelines, including the proper reporting and recording of the incident on Compass.
  • Parents are to be contacted if their child is alleged to have been bullied or experienced inappropriate behaviour, or if their child appears to have behaved inappropriately or bullied someone else.
  • Appropriate and proportional consequences may include a verbal apology through the restorative conference, writing a letter of regret, loss of privileges etc.
  • Removal of cyber-bullies from access to the school’s network and computers for a period of time.
  • Public recognition and reward for positive behaviour and resolution of problems will occur as appropriate.
  • Students provided with support through wellbeing that may include but is not limited to counselling, self-esteem programs, anger management programs, talks with the school liaison police

C.Repetitive or Serious Incidents:

  • Serious incidents and/or repetitive incidents of bullying or unacceptable behaviour must be reported, responded to by staff and documented.
  • Serious incidents are those that include physical assault, sexual assault, criminal activity involving theft or serious damage of property, serious threats or homophobic bullying etc.
  • All such incidents or allegations will be properly investigated and documented. Depending upon the nature of each incident, they may be also be reported to and investigated by police, reported to the Student Critical Incident Advisory Unit, and/or reported to the Department’s Emergency and Security Management Unit.
  • The school may contact support professionals such as Welfare officers, Welfare coordinators or Councillors and/or Student Support Officers for assistance and support.
  • Students and staff and parents identified by others as perpetrators will be informed of allegations.
  • Both perpetrators and victims will be offered counselling and support.
  • All repetitive or serious incidents must be brought to the attention of the Assistant Principal for the year level
  • The most appropriate staff member will contact parents of the targeted child. Principal class members or Student Managers will contact alleged perpetrators unless advised by police etc. not to do so.
  • Regional office will provide support as appropriate, and the principal will monitor the investigation and review the situation until matters are appropriately resolved.
  • Consequences of repetitive or serious incidents may include criminal charges, suspension, expulsion, loss of privileges, counselling, conciliation or any other consequences consistent with the school’s Student Code of Conduct.
  • A management strategy for all parties will be developed in consultation with the students and parents involved.
  • Parents or community members who bully or harass or abuse staff will be provided with official warnings, and if necessary referred to the police, and/or have Trespass restrictions placed upon them by the principal consistent with the Summary Offences Act.

D.Post Incident:

It is important that appropriate strategies are put in place after the incident has been resolved for all students involved. Appropriate strategies may include:-

  • restorative conference
  • ongoing monitoring of students involved.
  • identification of an agreed key contact staff member for each student involved.
  • follow-up meetings regarding each child’s management strategy.
  • ongoing communication with parents.
  • counselling from appropriate agencies or support officers etc. for both parties.
  • reinforcement of positive behaviours and appropriate behaviour strategies.
  • adjusting timetables so students are less likely to be in the same class

DEPARTMENT POLICIES AND DOCUMENTS

SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS

  • Engagement Policy
  • College Staff and Student ValuesMatrices
  • Digital Users agreement
  • A Parent’s Guide to Restorative Practices
  • Bullying No Way

EVALUATION

This policy will be reviewed every three years, with recommended changes being presented to College Council.

Ratified by HPSC College Council - 2017

Date of next review - 2020