St Patrick’s National School,
Fanore, Co Clare.
Email: fans2@eircom.net
(065) 7076197
1. 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 St Patrick’s National School has adopted the following anti-bullying policy within the framework of the school’s overall code of behaviour. This policy fully complies with the requirements of the Anti-Bullying Procedures for Primary and Post-Primary Schools which were published in September 2013.
2. 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) 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;
See Table A (6.1.5.Procedures): Key elements of a positive school culture and climate, and also Appendix 2: Practical tips for building a school culture and climate. |
(b) Effective leadership
(c) A school-wide approach
(d) A shared understanding of what bullying is and its impact
(e) Implementation of education and prevention strategies (including awareness raising measures) that-
build empathy, respect and resilience in pupils; and
explicitly address the issues of cyber-bullying and identity-based bullying including in particular, homophobic and transphobic bullying;
effective supervision and monitoring of pupils;
(f) Effective supervision and monitoring of pupils
(g) Supports for staff
(h) Consistent recording, investigation and follow up of bullying behaviour (including use of established intervention strategies); and
(i) On-going evaluation of the effectiveness of the anti-bullying policy
3. 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 and other forms of relational bullying,
cyber-bullying and
identity-based bullying such as homophobic bullying, racist bullying, bullying based on a person’s membership of the Traveller community and bullying of those with disabilities or special 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.
Negative behaviour that does not meet this definition of bullying will be dealt with in accordance with the school’s code of 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.
Examples of bullying behaviours
General behaviours which apply to all types of bullying
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Cyber
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The Board of Management of St Patrick’s NS is requesting parents to regularly monitor their child’s online and text activity to deem if content is age appropriate. Please use your discretion in reporting inappropriate material to the teacher.
NOTE: Please see attachment on “Preventing Cyber Bullying” |
Identity Based Behaviours Including any of the nine discriminatory grounds mentioned in Equality Legislation (gender including transgender, civil status, family status, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, race and membership of the Traveller community). |
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Relational
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This involves manipulating relationships as a means of bullying. Behaviours include:
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Special Educational Needs, Disability |
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4. 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 Schools):
Refer to section 6.8.3. and 6.8.4 in the Procedures
The Relevant Teachers in this school are: Brid Queally- Principal Carol Scales- Infant teacher
Any teacher may act as a relevant teacher if circumstances warrant it. |
5. The education and prevention strategies (including strategies specifically aimed at cyber-
bullying, 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):
Sample Education and prevention strategies
School-wide approach
Implementation of curricula
Links to other policies
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6. 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):
6.8.9. Procedures for Investigating and Dealing with Bullying
The primary aim in investigating and dealing with bullying is to resolve any issues and to restore, as far as is practicable, the relationships of the parties involved (rather than to apportion blame);
The school’s procedures must be consistent with the following approach. Every effort will be made to ensure that all involved (including pupils, parent(s)/guardian(s)) understand this approach from the outset.
Reporting bullying behaviour
Investigating and dealing with incidents: Style of approach (see section 6.8.9)
Follow up and recording
- Whether the bullying behaviour has ceased; - Whether any issues between the parties have been resolved as far as is practicable; -Whether the relationships between the parties have been restored as far as is practicable; -Any feedback received from the parties involved, their parent(s)/guardian(s)s or the school Principal or Deputy Principal
Recording of bullying behaviour
It is imperative that all recording of bullying incidents must be done in an objective and factual manner.
The school’s procedures for noting and reporting bullying behaviour are as follows:
Informal- pre-determination that bullying has occurred
Formal Stage 1-determination that bullying has occurred
Formal Stage 2-Appendix 3 (From DES Procedures) The relevant teacher must use the recording template at Appendix 3 to record the bullying behaviour in the following circumstances:
a) in cases where he/she considers that the bullying behaviour has not been adequately and appropriately addressed within 20 school days after he/she has determined that bullying behaviour occurred; and When the recording template is used, it must be retained by the relevant teacher in question and a copy maintained by the principal. Due consideration needs to be given to where these records are kept, who has access to them, and how long they will be retained. Decisions around record keeping should be noted in this policy.
Established intervention strategies
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7. The school’s programme of support for working with pupils affected by bullying is as follows
(see Section 6.8.16 of the Anti-Bullying Procedures for Primary and Post-Primary Schools) :
- Pastoral care system - Buddy / Peer mentoring system - Group work such as circle time
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8. 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.
The following Prompt Questions may be useful in considering this aspect of the policy:
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9. 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.
10. This policy was adopted by the Board of Management on April 1st 2014.
11. 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.
12. 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 (where one exists). A record of the review and its outcome will be made available, if requested, to the patron and the Department.
Date of next review: April 2015
This policy will be updated following further training for staff in the coming school year.
Fanore National School
We understand that Bullying is unwanted negative behaviour, verbal, psychological or physical conducted by an individual or group against another person.
Types:
Physical- pushing, shoving, kicking, punching, poking, tripping people up
Damage to property – taking or scattering of pupils pencil cases, books or bags
Name calling- This is persistent name-calling which hurts, insults or humiliates eg. Big ears, Spotty, Nerd, Freak
Academic ability will not be allowed to provoke name-calling. Words such as teacher’s pet, dummies, dopes, donkeys, swats, brainbox, licks are not condoned in our school
Slagging- Remarks about a person’s appearance, clothing, personal hygiene are not condoned in our school
Isolation- Deliberately isolating a child; excluding or ignoring them by some or all of the group is considered bullying. This may also include passing around notes/drawing pictures/whispering insults about a child that are loud enough to be heard.
Children, parents and school staff are aware of Fanore National School’s understanding of bullying. Under no circumstances will bullying of any sort be tolerated in our school.