Hi Families,
This week we are taking part in the ‘No Bullying’ campaign for 2022.
Students have been engaged in sessions that talk about what bullying is and is not and we are promoting the Kindness culture theme that is part of this years theme.
Take a look at what we are doing as a school to support this as we continue to promote a culture of kindness as a school community.
Happy reading,
Ms Jodie
Planning for a safe and supportive school community
This week St Augustine’s is participating in the National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence (NDA). The NDA is Australia’s key bullying prevention initiative, connecting schools and communities to find workable solutions to prevent bullying. As a school, we are focussing on ways we should be treating one another and what this looks like and sounds like at St Augustine’s.
The theme for the 2022 NDA is Kindness Culture. This theme sits perfectly at St Augustine’s as we often look at ways of promoting and establishing a culture where we all show kindness and respect towards one another. This in turn promotes inclusiveness, respect and community belonging for all students.
This week, classes are continuing to talk about this in all year levels. There are posters displayed around our school and we have a kindness tree that is being filled with acts of kindness shown from our students. In addition to this, if a student is displaying kind behaviours outside on the yard, they will be given a kindness slip from the teacher on duty. Those who receive a slip are then called up at assembly and given an award to celebrate their acts of kindness so look out in case your child comes home with one!
Planning for a safe and supportive school community requires a whole-school community approach. Whole-school responses to bullying prevention build positive and supportive school environments by incorporating strategies for intervention at all levels, inclusive of students, teachers, parents and carers.
Three key characteristics outlined in the national definition of bullying distinguish bullying behaviours from other forms of peer aggression behaviours, which do not constitute bullying. The key characteristics of bullying include:
- power imbalance
- deliberate intent to cause harm, and
- Ongoing and repeated behaviour.
While the following behaviours of peer aggression do not constitute bullying, these behaviours may still be serious and require intervention at home and at school:
- arguments and disagreements (where there is no power imbalance)
- single acts of social rejection or meanness, or
- isolated incidents of aggression, intimidation or violence.
It is important for our entire school community, including our staff, parents, carers and students to have a clear understanding of the definition of bullying to be able to distinguish these behaviours from peer aggression, and correctly identify and respond to incidents of bullying.
Knowing the types of bullying behaviour can also help you identify if the incident is bullying, or peer aggression. While neither of these behaviours are tolerated at St Augustine’s, they do require different management strategies, and the first step for responding is to correctly identify the behaviour.
You can find the St Augustine’s bullying prevention policy on the school website if you want to learn more about our school’s process for managing incidents of bullying.
Look at our kindness tree! It gets fuller by the day!
