What is Bullying?
"Bullying" means aggressive and typically repeated behaviour by a pupil where, (a) the behaviour is intended by the pupil to have the effect of, or the pupil ought to know that the behaviour would be likely to have the effect of, (i) causing harm, fear or distress to another individual, including physical , psychological, social or academic harm, harm to the individual's reputation or harm to the individual's property, or (ii) creating a negative environment at a school for another individual, and (b) the behaviour occurs in a context where there is a real or perceived power imbalance between the pupil and the individual based on factors such as size, strength, age, intelligence, peer group power, economic status, social status, religion, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, family circumstances, gender, gender identity, gender expression, race, disability or the receipt of special education.
Different forms of bullying include:
Physical - hitting, shoving, stealing or damaging property
Verbal - name calling, mocking, or making sexist, racist or homophobic comment
Social - excluding others from a group or spreading gossip or rumours about them
Electronic (commonly known as cyberbullying) - spreading rumours and hurtful comments through the use of cellphones, e-mail, text messaging and social networking sites
School communities - this means, the school, at home and everywhere in between - need to be safe places so that students and staff can be relaxed enough to teach and learn in. In order for that to happen we need to work together to create a community of character that promotes positive characteristics/behaviours and stops negative ones. ~
What can you do?
It is important to know that everyone has the right to feel safe, accepted and valued. Make our school communities a better place by being respectful of others and standing up against bullying whenever it happens! Find out more about what you can do below!