Anti-Bullying Policy

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Anti-Bullying Policy

Divine Child International School is committed to working with students and parents to provide a learning environment that is secure and supportive so that all individuals can develop academically and socially free from fear of ridicule, harassment or physical threat. We aim to create an environment where all members of the school community feel safe, respected and valued. All children have an absolute right to be protected from others who may wish to harm, degrade or abuse them. Bullying of any kind is unacceptable at our school.

What is Bullying?

Bullying is the deliberate intention to harm someone who does not have the power to stop it. Bullying, harassment or any form of discrimination, is immoral and can be unlawful because it interferes with the right of a person to feel safe and valued as a member of a community.

Bullying takes many forms. It can be:

Face-to-face such as fighting, pushing, taunting, insulting, embarrassing, intimidating and invading personal space, AND Behind-the-back such as writing threatening or offensive messages, sending distressing emails and writing anonymous notes that are hurtful
Done individually, such as a person mocking or teasing someone, AND It can be done as a group by such means as social exclusion
Behaviour such as teasing, taunting and threats based on another person's race
The causing of hurt by traditional methods such as punching, kicking and spreading hurtful rumours, AND The causing of hurt by contemporary means such as cyber bullying, sexting, engaging in identity theft or by trashing someone on social networking sites

Cyber Bullying

Cyber bullying is causing hurt via modern technologies such as the Internet and other forms of social media, and through the use of smart phones and other mobile devices. It can, under certain conditions, be carried out with relative anonymity. Cyber bullying can be particularly damaging because of the capacity it has to humiliate, hurt and harm a person in front of a huge ‘audience’.

Examples of Cyber bullying:

Sending hateful or threatening comments or pictures via MSN, mobile phone or the Internet and by social networking sites such as Facebook
Posting rude, explicit or embarrassing messages or pictures about someone on the Net.
Stealing someone's identity in order to harm them in some way
Outing' and disseminating confidential information about someone
Using aliases and pseudonyms in chat rooms and on social networking sites in order to harass and upset
Engaging in cyber-stalking and the invading of privacy

Cyber Anonymity

Students need to remember that something sent electronically can never be entirely removed even with a press of the ‘delete’ button. The image may emerge at any stage in their future life and lead to serious consequences. Using pseudonyms, passwords and avatars does not protect the identity of a cyber-bully. Technologies exist to identify those who misuse modern technologies to harm others.
How does SDCS discourage bullying?
Bullying is totally against the mission and purpose of SDCS. The School is committed to providing an educational environment in which students feel valued and secure. To achieve this end, the school seeks to create a school-wide culture that:

Allows students to flourish free from discrimination, harassment or any form of bullying
Does not tolerate, condone or trivialise bullying behaviour
Is aware of what constitutes bullying behaviour
Provides support to the victims of bullying
Deals firmly with bullies so that they either stop their bullying or leave the School

The methods used by the School to discourage bullying will vary from time-to-time, with new initiatives being introduced when thought appropriate. The measures that have been used to discourage bullying at SDCS include, but are not limited to:

Employing a suitable range of sanctions to deal with and discourage bullies. These sanctions include suspension and expulsion
Putting up signage about the School to promote a bully-free environment
Printing anti-bullying policies in student diaries and on the School's website
Training staff to detect bullying behaviour
Encouraging staff to adopt classroom management techniques that discourage opportunities for bullying behaviour
Employing staff who model tolerance, empathy and acceptance of individual differences

What should you do if you are being bullied? If you are being bullied, it is important that you talk to an adult who is in a position to help you. Some students may not want to report bullying because they feel it might only make matters worse. Again, this fear is understandable, but most teachers are trained in ways to help victims of bullying in a manner that protects the victim.
It can take courage to challenge the bully, to expose them for who they are and to play a part in improving our community by ridding it of bullying behaviour. SDCS expects its students to show this courage and not tolerate bullying as a bystander or as a victim. If you are being bullied, you must tell a responsible adult who has the capacity to help. options include:

If you are being bullied, you are encouraged to do the RITE thing:

R = RECOGNISE :you have the right to feel safe and to operate in an environment free of bullying.

I = INFORM :the bullies that you want them to stop. Do this in a polite but firm way.

T = TELL :a responsible adult about the bullying.

E = EVALUATE : the situation. If it does not improve, seek further help.

Violation of Anti-bullying policy

Reports of bullying will be investigated and acted upon. Responses to bullying might include support for targets of bullying and perpetrators and/or disciplinary measures. The teacher will intervene to stop the bullying. The teacher may conduct and complete a mediation contract or refer the situation to a Coordinator, HOD or Vice principal, Principal if serious

Intervention strategies include:

Counselling for those bullied and bullying
Contacting parents to discuss strategies
Consequences for bullies (including suspension for cyber bullying that occurs outside the school)

Post-intervention strategies include:

Monitoring those bullied to ensure their continued safety and wellbeing
Checking that the bullying has stopped