Baulkham Hills High School

Persevere

Telephone02 9639 8699

Emailbaulkham-h.school@det.nsw.edu.au

Anti-bullying

Baulkham Hills High School is committed to providing a safe, caring and harmonious environment that fosters respect for others and individual differences. Bullying is not tolerated at Baulkham Hills and its incidence is relatively rare.

Our definition of bullying:

Bullying can be defined as intentional, repeated behaviour by an individual or group of individuals that causes distress, hurt or undue pressure.

Bullying involves the abuse of power in relationships. Bullying can involve all forms of harassment, humiliation, domination and intimidation of others.

Bullying behaviour can be verbal, physical, social or psychological.

We consider the following behaviour to be bullying:

Physical:

  • Hitting, kicking, punching;
  • Pushing, shoving, spitting;
  • Forcing others to hand over food, money or something that belongs to them; and
  • Making someone do something they don't want to do.

Verbal:

  • Name calling;
  • Teasing, insults, putdowns;
  • Threatening of any kind;
  • Making fun of someone because of their appearance, physical characteristics or cultural background; and
  • Making fun of someone's actions.

Indirect: (social and psychological)

  • Excluding others from the activity or the group;
  • Spreading untrue stories about others;
  • Making inappropriate gestures;
  • Taking, hiding or damaging something which belongs to someone else;
  • Sending nasty emails, text messages or messages on social networks e.g. Facebook; and
  • The inappropriate use of websites, chat-sites or camera phones.

Strategies to Deal with Bullying

At Baulkham Hills High there is a strong school spirit where effective and systematics programs in each year cohort communicate to all students the message that bullying is not accepted or tolerated.

Responsibilities of staff:

  • To model appropriate behaviour, respecting individual differences and diversity;
  • To reinforce the message that bullying is not accepted or tolerated;
  • To treat seriously all reports or observed incidences of bullying;
  • To report incidences of bullying to the relevant Year Adviser or the Deputy Principal;
  • To be observant of signs of distress or suspected incidents of bullying;
  • To ensure that students are supervised at all times.

Responsibilities of students:

  • To model appropriate behaviour, respecting individual differences and diversity;
  • To reinforce the message that bullying is not accepted or tolerated;
  • To help someone who is being bullied;
  • To refrain from bullying others;
  • To inform the authorities if they are being bullied or if they see someone else being bullied - both at school and on the way to and from school.

Responsibilities of parents:

  • To model appropriate behaviour, respecting individual differences and diversity;
  • To reinforce the message that bullying is not accepted or tolerated;
  • To instruct their children to tell the appropriate authorities if they are bullied;
  • To watch for signs that their child may be bullied;
  • To speak to the Year Adviser, the Head Teacher Welfare, Head Teacher Special Education or the Deputy Principals if their child is being bullied, or they suspect that this is happening.

 

Students can expect that their concerns will be responded to by the school staff and that they will be provided with appropriate support (for both the subjects of and those responsible for the behaviour).

Students who bully others may face one or more of the following consequences:

  • Involvement in a mediation process;
  • Referral to the school counselor;
  • Parents may be contacted by the school;
  • Privileges may be withdrawn (eg exclusion from the playground);
  • Sanctions outlined in the School's Discipline Policy such as detention and suspension.

Baulkham Hills High School provides a range of effective programs to ensure a safe and secure environment promoting personal growth and excellence in all students. We aim to develop confidence and self esteem to empower students to take responsibility for themselves and their actions. As part of this, the anti-bullying message is consistently communicated to students.

These programs include :

  • A proactive Student Welfare committee and program including camps, guest speakers and special performances;
  • The Peer Support Program;
  • A buddy system between Year 7 and senior students;
  • Anti-bullying programs;
  • Active leadership by the Prefects and the Student Representative Council;
  • Development of positive Student Leadership roles;
  • The PDHPE program;
  • The role of the school counselor;
  • Year Meetings;
  • Year 11 Reading program with Support Unit students.

This policy is communicated to staff via staff meetings and the staff intranet; to students via assemblies, year meetings, the student intranet and the school website, and to parents via the P&C, the school newsletter and the school website.

 

The following websites contain helpful resources and information that can support young people around bullying:


https://education.nsw.gov.au/student-wellbeing/attendance-behaviour-and-engagement/anti-bullying


https://bullyingnoway.gov.au/

 

Anti-Bullying plan is available here (PDF)

Related content