Assistant Principal's Report
This week at St John’s we are supporting the Bullying No Way Campaign 2020. The launch is this Friday 20th March. This initiative is to raise awareness about this issue and to inform them of what bullying is and what it isn’t. It is also an opportunity to assist the children with some strategies for what to do if they are being bullied or they witness it at school.
Our aim is for our students to celebrate diversity and respect differences in others, rather than being judgemental or unkind because someone is different.
Bullying has three main features:
- It involves a misuse of power in a relationship
- It is ongoing and repeated, and
- It involves behaviours that can cause harm
Children and young people need to know that they are being heard, that their feelings matter and that their issue will be investigated respectfully. Bullying should be taken seriously..
Although it isn’t nice if someone does or says something mean to someone else, we don’t necessarily call that Bullying. It is also not bullying if children have a one off argument.
BULLYING ISN’T…
- Excluding someone once or twice
- Disliking someone
- Being Bossy
- Telling a joke about someone
- Arguing with someone
Schools can be much more effective when parents report bullying and support their efforts to deal with it.
If your child reports that bullying is occurring at school, or the bullying involves students from the school outside of school, you should let the school know the situation.
Working together with the school is the best way to help your child resolve bullying issues.
Schools will work with you to resolve the situation and will also work with the other student's parents. Due to privacy laws, they will not be able to share information about any other students involved.
Here at St John’s, we will always advocate for our students to:
Talk to someone about it.
- Find a trusted friend, teacher or adult who will listen to how you feel, be supportive, and perhaps even help you work out what to do.
- Talk to your friends - they can help you tell a teacher or your parents or just to feel better.
- Talk to your parents - tell them all about what's been happening.
- Talk to your teacher or another staff member - tell them all about what’s been happening. If you don't want to do this in public, make an excuse to see the teacher about something else, for example your homework.
Bullying is not OK. You have the right to feel safe.
Acting Assistant Principals Kylie Billett and Helen Libro
