1. Purpose

Princes Hill Secondary College is committed to providing a safe and caring environment and culture which enables positive relationships to be formed amongst all students and staff and which encourages self-esteem, cooperation, personal growth and a positive attitude to learning and teaching. A clear policy on bullying (including cyber bullying) will inform the community that bullying in any of its forms will not be tolerated.

The purpose of this policy is to:

• explain the definitions of bullying.
• make clear that all forms of bullying at Princes Hill Secondary College will not be tolerated.
• outline the strategies and programs in place at Princes Hill Secondary College to build a positive school culture and prevent bullying behaviour.
• ask that everyone in our school community be alert to signs and evidence of bullying behaviours, and accept responsibility to report them to school staff.
• ensure that all reported incidents of bullying are appropriately followed up, investigated and addressed.
• ensure that support is provided to students who may be affected by bullying behaviour (including victims, bystanders and perpetrators).
• seek parental and peer group support in addressing and preventing bullying behaviour at Princes Hill Secondary College.

2. Policy Statement

This policy addresses how Princes Hill Secondary College aims to prevent, address and respond to student bullying behaviour. Princes Hill Secondary College recognises that there are many other types of inappropriate student behaviours that do not meet the definition of bullying which are also unacceptable at our school. These other inappropriate behaviours will be managed in accordance with the following school policies:

Student Wellbeing and Engagement Policy

Duty of Care Policy

This policy applies to all school activities, including camps and excursions. It also applies to bullying behaviour between students that occurs outside of school hours, where the behaviour impacts on student wellbeing and safety at school.

When responding to bullying behaviour, Princes Hill Secondary College aims to:

• be proportionate, consistent and responsive.
• find a constructive solution for everyone.
• stop the bullying from happening again.
• restore the relationships between the students involved in accordance with the Student Wellbeing and Engagement Policy.

Princes Hill Secondary College acknowledges that school staff owe a duty of care to students to take reasonable steps to reduce the risk of reasonably foreseeable harm, which can include harm that may be caused by bullying behaviour.

To ensure a shared understanding amongst all members of the Princes Hill Secondary College community, the following bullying related definitions are explained.

Bullying

In 2018 the Education Council of the Council of Australian Governments endorsed the following definition of bullying for use by all Australian schools:

Bullying is an ongoing and deliberate misuse of power in relationships through repeated verbal, physical and/or social behaviour that intends to cause physical, social and/or psychological harm. It can involve an individual or a group misusing their power, or perceived power, over one or more persons who feel unable to stop it from happening.

Bullying can happen in person or online, via various digital platforms and devices and it can be obvious (overt) or hidden (covert). Bullying behaviour is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time (for example, through sharing of digital records)

Bullying of any form or for any reason can have immediate, medium and long-term effects on those involved, including bystanders. Single incidents and conflict or fights between equals, whether in person or online, are not defined as bullying.

Bullying has three main features:

• It involves a misuse of power in a relationship.
• It is ongoing and repeated.
• It involves behaviours that can cause harm.

There are four main types of bullying behaviour:

• Physical – examples include hitting, pushing, shoving or intimidating or otherwise physically hurting another person, damaging or stealing their belongings. It includes threats of violence.
• Verbal/written – examples include name-calling or insulting someone about an attribute, quality or personal characteristic.
• Social (sometimes called relational or emotional bullying) – examples include deliberately excluding someone, spreading rumours, sharing information that will have a harmful effect on the other person and/or damaging a person’s social reputation or social acceptance.
• Cyberbullying – any form of bullying behaviour that occurs online or via a mobile device. It can be verbal or written, and can include threats of violence as well as images, videos and/or audio.

Bullying can be a form of racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia or other type of social prejudice when the behaviour is targeted at an individual or group because of a personal characteristic, such as race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.

For further information about bullying, refer to Bully Stoppers and the Department’s Bullying Prevention and Response policy.

Other Distressing and Inappropriate Behaviours

Many distressing and inappropriate behaviours may not constitute bullying even though they are unpleasant. Students who are involved in or who witness any distressing and inappropriate behaviours should report their concerns to school staff and our school will follow our Student Wellbeing and Engagement Policy and/or this Bullying Prevention Policy where the behaviour constitutes bullying.

Mutual conflict involves an argument or disagreement between people with no imbalance of power. In incidents of mutual conflict, generally, both parties are upset and usually both want a resolution to the issue. Unresolved mutual conflict can develop into bullying if one of the parties targets the other repeatedly in retaliation.

Social rejection or dislike is not bullying unless it involves deliberate and repeated attempts to cause distress, exclude or create dislike by others.

Single-episode acts of nastiness or physical aggression are not the same as bullying. However, single episodes of nastiness or physical aggression are not acceptable behaviours at our school and may have serious consequences for students engaging in this behaviour. Princes Hill Secondary College will use its Student Wellbeing and Engagement Policy to guide a response to single episodes of nastiness or physical aggression.

Harassment is language or actions that are demeaning, offensive or intimidating to a person. It can take many forms, including sexual harassment and disability harassment.

Discrimination is behaviour that treats someone unfavourably because of a personal characteristic (for example, race, religious belief or activity, disability, sex or intersex status, gender identity or sexual orientation).

Discrimination, harassment, and any other inappropriate behaviour is not tolerated at our school and there may be serious consequences for students engaging in this behaviour. This includes any form of racism, religious or disability discrimination, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, or any other behaviour that targets an individual or group.

3. Implementation

Princes Hill Secondary College has a number of programs and strategies in place to build a positive and inclusive school culture. We strive to foster a school culture that prevents bullying behaviour by modelling and encouraging behaviour that demonstrates acceptance, kindness and respect.

Bullying Prevention

Bullying prevention at Princes Hill Secondary College is proactive and is supported by research that indicates that a whole school, multifaceted approach is the most effective way to prevent and address bullying. At our school:

• we have a positive school environment that provides safety, security and support for students and promotes positive relationships and wellbeing.
• we strive to build strong partnerships between the school, families and the broader community that means all members work together to ensure the safety of students.
• teachers are encouraged to incorporate classroom management strategies that discourage bullying and promote positive behaviours.
• a range of year level incursions and programs are planned for each year to raise awareness about bullying and its impacts. We seek to empower students to be confident communicators and to resolve conflict in a non-aggressive and constructive way.
• in the classroom, our social and emotional learning curriculum teaches students what constitutes bullying and how to respond to bullying behaviour assertively. This promotes resilience, assertiveness, conflict resolution and problem solving. This is done through specific programs dealing with for example, cyber bullying, respectful relationships and the bullying/bystander program (eg. cyber bullying as part of the curriculum in middle school elective Digital Technologies).
• we celebrate the diverse backgrounds of members of our school community and teach multicultural education, including Aboriginal History, to promote mutual respect and social cohesion.
• we participate in the Respectful Relationships initiative, which aims to embed a culture of respect and equality across our school reinforced in the home group program and year level assemblies.
• we promote upstander behaviour as a way of empowering our students to positively and safely take appropriate action when they see or hear of a peer being bullied.
• the Year 9/10 Peer Support Program encourages positive relationships between students in different year levels and supports transition to secondary schooling.
• students are encouraged to look out for each other and to talk to teachers and older peers about any bullying they have experienced or witnessed.
• we commit to participate in the National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence.

For further information about our engagement and wellbeing initiatives, please see our Student Wellbeing and Engagement Policy.

Reporting Concerns to Princes Hill Secondary College

Bullying is not tolerated at our school. We ensure bullying behaviour is identified and addressed with appropriate and proportionate consequences. All bullying complaints will be taken seriously and responded to sensitively.

Students who may be experiencing bullying behaviour, or students who have witnessed bullying behaviour, are encouraged to report their concerns to school staff as soon as possible.

All members of school community have a responsibility to ensure that any incidents of bullying and harassment are appropriately reported. Parents should feel comfortable raising concerns about bullying and harassment with the school. Complaints will be taken seriously and responded to sensitively at our school in accordance with the Complaints Policy.

The ability to effectively reduce and eliminate bullying behaviour is greatly affected by students and/or parents and carers reporting concerning behaviour as soon as possible, so that the responses implemented are timely and appropriate in the circumstances.

We encourage students to speak to their Year Level Coordinator, Subschool Leader or the Student Wellbeing Leader. However, students are welcome to discuss their concerns with any trusted member of staff including teachers, educational psychologist etc.

Parents or carers who may develop concerns that their child is involved in, or has witnessed bullying behaviour at Princes Hill Secondary College should contact the relevant Year Level Coordinator, Subschool Leader or Student Wellbeing Leader.

Investigations

When notified of alleged bullying behaviour, school staff are required to:

1. Record the details of the allegations in Compass Chronicle.
2. Inform the relevant Year Level Coordinator, Subschool Leader and Student Wellbeing Team (Assistant Principal, Principal will be notified via Compass).

The Subschool Leader is responsible for investigating allegations of bullying in a timely and sensitive manner. To appropriately investigate an allegation of bullying, the Subschool Leader may:

• speak to the students involved in the allegations, including the victim/s, the alleged perpetrator/s and any witnesses to the incidents.
• speak to the parents of the students involved.
• speak to the teachers of the students involved.
• take detailed notes of all discussions for future reference.
• obtain written statements from all or any of the above.

All communications with school staff in the course of investigating an allegation of bullying will be managed sensitively. Investigations will be completed as quickly as possible to allow for the behaviours to be addressed in a timely manner.

The objective of completing a thorough investigation into the circumstances of alleged bullying behaviour is to determine the nature of the conduct and the students involved. A thorough understanding of the alleged bullying will inform staff about how to most effectively implement an appropriate response to that behaviour.

Serious bullying, including serious cyberbullying, is a criminal offence and may be referred to Victoria Police. For more information, see: Brodie’s Law.

Responses to Bullying Behaviours

When the Subschool Leader has sufficient information to understand the circumstances of the alleged bullying and the students involved, a number of strategies may be implemented to address the behaviour and support affected students in consultation with the Student Wellbeing Team, teachers, Assistant Principal and Principal.

There are a number of factors that will be considered when determining the most appropriate response to the behaviour. When making a decision about how to respond to bullying behaviour, Princes Hill Secondary College will consider:

• the age and maturity of the students involved.
• the severity and frequency of the bullying, and the impact it has had on the victim student.
• whether the student or students engaging in bullying behaviour have displayed similar behaviour before.
• whether the bullying took place in a group or one-to-one context.
• whether the student or students engaging in bullying behaviour demonstrates insight or remorse for their behaviour.
• the alleged motive of the behaviour, including any element of provocation.

The Subschool Leader may implement all, or some of the following responses to bullying behaviours:

• Offer counselling support to the victim student or students, including referral to the Student Wellbeing Team.
• Offer counselling support to the perpetrator student or students, including referral to the Student Wellbeing Team.
• Offer counselling support to affected students, including witnesses and/or friends of the victim student, including referral to the Student Wellbeing Team.
• Facilitate a restorative practice meeting with all or some of the students involved. The objective of restorative practice is to repair relationships that have been damaged by bringing about a sense of remorse and restorative action on the part of the person who has bullied someone and forgiveness by the person who has been bullied.
• Facilitate a mediation between some or all of the students involved to help to encourage students to take responsibility for their behaviour and explore underlying reasons for conflict or grievance.
• Implement disciplinary consequences for the perpetrator students, which may include removal of privileges, detention, suspension and/or expulsion consistent with our Student Wellbeing and Engagement Policy, the Ministerial Order on Suspensions and Expulsions and any other relevant Department policy.
• Facilitate a Student Support Group meeting and/or Behaviour Support Plan for affected students.
• Prepare an Individual Plan restricting contact between victim and perpetrator students.
• Provide discussion and/or mentoring for different social and emotional learning competencies of the students involved, including connecting affected students with an older student mentor, resilience programs, etc.
• Monitor the behaviour of the students involved for an appropriate time and take follow up action if necessary.
• Implement year group targeted strategies to reinforce positive behaviours, for example Bystander bullying program, outside performances, local community liaison police talks, online bullying survey, guest speakers, cyber bullying and positive relationships at Year 7, peer pressure decision making.

Princes Hill Secondary College understands the importance of monitoring and following up on the progress of students who have been involved in or affected by bullying behaviour. Where appropriate, school staff will also endeavour to provide parents and carers with updates on the management of bullying incidents.

The Subschool Leader is responsible for maintaining up to date records of the investigation of and responses to bullying behaviour. This will be recorded on Compass Chronicle by the relevant Subschool or Principal Class member.

4. Evaluation & Review

This policy will be reviewed every 2 years, or earlier as required following an incident or analysis of new research or school data relating to bullying, to ensure that the policy remains up to date, practical and effective.

Data will be collected through:

• discussion with students.
• regular student bullying surveys.
• regular staff surveys.
• assessment of school based data, including the number of reported incidents of bullying in each year group and the effectiveness of the responses implemented.
• compass Chronicle.

Proposed amendments to this policy will be discussed with staff, student representative groups and School Council.

5. Definitions

6. References

• Bully Stoppers
• Safe Schools
• Respectful Relationships
• Bullying, No Way!
• School Wide Positive Behaviour Support

7. Related Policies

This policy should be read in conjunction with the following school policies:

Student Wellbeing and Engagement Policy

Duty of Care Policy

Complaints Policy

8. Consultation

This policy was written in consultation with the School Council on 08 Aug 2022 . It was also written in consultation with students via a forum on the 15 Aug 2022.