Vice-Principal: Ms. Louise Enright Class Teachers: Ms. Mary O’Shea Ms. Áine Walsh/Ms. Maria Moore Ms. Fiona O’Brien Mr. John Coffey Mr. Mark Nugent Ms. Emma Murray Ms. Mary Beresford Ms. Kim Daly S.N.A.’s Ms. Anita Duggan Ms. Nicola Fitzgerald Mr. Deaglán Ó hArtaigh Mr. Tomás de Faoite Ms. Lorraine Coughlan
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 Naomh Gobnait has adopted the following anti-bullying policy within the requirements of the Anti-Bullying Procedures for Primary and Post-Primary Schools which were 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 –
Is welcoming of difference and diversity and is based on inclusivity;
Encourages pupils to disclose and discuss incidents of bullying behaviour in a non-threatening environment; and
Promotes respectful relationships across the school community;
Effective leadership;
A school-wide approach;
A shared understanding of what bullying is and its impact;
Implementation of education and prevention strategies (includes awareness raising measures) that-
Build empathy, respect and resilience in pupils; and
Explicitly address the issues of cyber-bullying and identity-based bullying.
Effective supervision and monitoring of pupils;
Supports for staff;
Consistent recording, investigation and follow up of bullying behaviour(including use of established intervention strategies); and
On-going evaluating of the effectiveness of the anti-bullying policy.
In accordance with the Anti-Bullying Procedures for Primary and Post-Primary Schools 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:
Deliberate exclusion, malicious gossip or other forms of relational bullying,
Cyber-bullying and
Identify-based bullying such homophobic bullying, racist bullying based on a person’s membership of the Traveller community and bullying of those with disabilities or special needs educational needs.
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 bullying behaviour. 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 School):
Relevant Teacher: Pádraig Ó hArtaigh
The education and prevention (including strategies specifically aimed at cyber-bullying and identity-based bullying including in particular, 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):
Have specific lessons focused on addressing cyber-bullying and identity based bullying in SPHE (see resources section of SPHE)
Have guest speakers to address the senior classes in particular is such issues(GARDA speaker, RSE speaker)
Link SEN bullying to the respect shown to children in our ASD Classes
Inform and organise talks for parents on those specific bullying issues(internet safety talk)
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):
Bullying concern is brought to teacher, teacher brings this concern to the Relevant Teacher
Relevant teacher records from what the teacher says and what the parent says if necessary on the specific recording template
School Level: Interventions to help prevent bullying – monitoring behaviour, strict supervision, discussions at staff meetings
Class Level: Incorporate at curriculum teaching, class rules against bullying and role plays of negative and positive behaviour
Dealing with cases of bullying will differ depending on the severity of each individual case. Talk with principal/teacher, talk with parents, forfeit privileges, written activity based on the behaviour suspension
The school’s programme of support for working with pupils affected by bullying is a follows(see Section 6.8 of the Anti-Bullying Procedures for Primary and Post-Primary Schools):
Gain the confidence of the affected pupil to disclose to a teacher (SPHE lessons and positive past experiences to aid this)
Explain to the child the steps that you are going to take to observe/prevent/sanction
Explain to the child the communication that you are going to make to others i.e. home and other teachers
Teacher must deal with the situation to the best of their capabilities
Follow up talk needs to take place with the child to check if the steps taken were satisfactory/bullying has ceased
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 the nine grounds specified i.e. gender including transgender, civil status, family status, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, race and membership of the Traveller community.
The policy was adopted by the Board of Management on _____________________
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 . A record of the review and its outcome will be made available, if requested, to the patron and the Department.
Appendix 2 Practical tips for building a positive school culture and climate The following are some practical tips for immediate actions that can be taken to help build a positive school culture and climate and to help prevent and tackle bullying behaviour.
Model respectful behaviour to all members of the school community at all times.
Explicitly teach pupils what respectful language and respectful behaviour looks like, acts like, sounds like and feels like in class and around the school.
Display key respect messages in classrooms, in assembly areas and around the school. Involve pupils in the development of these messages.
Catch them being good- notice and acknowledge desired respectful behaviour by providing positive attention.
Consistently tackle the use of discriminatory and derogatory language in the school- this included homophobic and racist language that is belittling of pupils with a disability of SEN.
Give constructive feedback to pupils when respectful behaviour and respectful language are absent.
Have a system of encouragement and rewards to promote desired behaviour and compliance with the school rules and routines.
Explicitly teach pupils about the appropriate use of social media.
Positively encourage pupils to comply with the school rules on mobile phone and internet use.
Follow up and follow through with pupils who ignore the rules.
Actively involve parents and/or the Parents’ Association in awareness raising campaigns around social media.
Actively promote the right of every member of the school community to be safe and secure in school.
Highlight and explicitly teach school rules in pupil friendly language in the classroom and in common areas.
All staff can actively watch out for signs of bullying behaviour.
Ensure there are adequate playground/school yard/outdoor supervision.
School staff can get pupils to help them to identify bullying “hot spots” and “hot times” for bullying in the school.
Hot spots tend to be in the playground/school yard/outdoor areas, changing rooms
Hot times again tend to be times where there is less structured supervision such as when pupils are in the playground/school yard of moving classroom.
Support the establishment and work of student councils.