Anti-Bullying Policy

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 Scoil Naomh Abbáin has adopted the following anti-bullying policy within the framework of the school’s overall code of behaviour.  Adamstown NS 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 positive school culture and climate which –
o is welcoming of difference and diversity and is based on inclusivity;
o encourages pupils to disclose and discuss incidents of bullying behaviour in a non-threatening environment; and
o promotes respectful relationships across the school community.
• Effective leadership;
• A school-wide approach;
• A shared understanding of what bullying is and its impact;
• Implementation of education and prevention strategies (including awareness raising measures) that –
o build empathy, respect and resilience in pupils: and
o explicitly address the issues of cyber-bullying and identity-based
bullying including in particular, homophobic and transphobic bullying.
• Effective supervision and monitoring of pupils:
• Support for staff;
• Consistent recording, investigating and follow up of bullying behaviour
(including use of established intervention strategies’; and
• On-going evaluation of the effectiveness of the anti-bullying policy.

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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 (policy included)
• 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 education 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.

4 The relevant teachers for investigating and dealing with bullying are as follows:
Caroline Delaney (Principal) and Jennifer Carroll (Deputy Principal)
Sanctions will be imposed in line with the school’s behaviour policy.

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5 The education and prevention strategies that will be used by the school are as follows:
• prevention of bullying by raising awareness in curricular areas of the effects of bullying
• Self-esteem building by focussing SPHE lessons in this area
• Take pupils with SEN into consideration
• Encourage a climate of respect
• Annual staff CPD in the area of bullying

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:

• class teacher investigates and deals with initial complaint as per Section 6.89 of the Anti-Bullying Procedures for Primary Schools.
• class teacher should record all reports and investigations into bullying in their yearly planning notes folders.
• ‘Bullying Report’ filled in and signed if outcome is not satisfactory as per
6/89 (xviii) of the Anti-Bullying Procedures for Primary Schools.
• Actions and Outcomes in relation to ‘Report’ to be recorded on back of report.
• Report to be retained by teacher and a copy given to Principal/Deputy Principal and filed in Bullying Folder.
7 The school’s programme of support for working with pupils affected by bullying is as
follows:

• Pupils who have been bullied and those involved in bullying behaviour will be given the opportunity to participate in self-esteem building, friendship developing and social skills lessons.
• Counselling opportunities through NEPS will be sought if deemed appropriate.

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 to
facilitate early intervention where possible.

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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 Travelling community.

10 This policy was adopted by the Board of Management on ___________________(date)

11 This policy has been made available to school personnel, published on the school’s
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.

Signed ___________________________                                  Signed  _______________________
(Chairperson of Board of Management)                                        (Principal)

Date:  _______________________                                           Date: _________________________