Definition:

Bullying is the unprovoked, intentional, deliberate and repeated intimidation taken by one or more children with the deliberate intention of upsetting, intimidating or hurting another child. In order to be considered bullying, the Behaviour must include:

• An Imbalance of Power: Children who bully use their power—such as physical strength, access to embarrassing information, or popularity—to control or harm others,
• Repetition: Bullying Behaviours are happen more than once Bullying can be direct, in the form of physical or verbal, or indirect, which involves psychological or emotional actions such as being ignored or not spoken to.

Examples:

Physical - pushing, kicking, hitting, punching or any use of violence

Verbal – name – calling, sarcasm, spreading rumors, teasing

Emotional – being unfriendly, excluding, tormenting (e.g. hiding books)

Racist - racial taunts, graffiti, gestures

Gender - unwanted physical or verbal contact based on gender

Harassment – threatening or disturbing Behaviour inflicted on another

Cyber – all areas of the internet, such as email and internet chat rooms, mobile use, any misuse of associate technology i.e. camera and video facilities.

AIMS:

• All teaching and non-teaching staff, students and parents should have an understanding of what bullying is.
• All teaching and non-teaching staff should know what the school policy is on bullying, and follow it when bullying is reported.
• All students and parents should know what the school policy is on bullying, and what they should do if bullying arises.
• As a school we take bullying seriously. Students and parents should be assured that they will be supported when bullying is reported.
• This have a “zero tolerance” to Bullying.
• Confidentiality will be maintained where possible.

Scope:

This policy affects the entire TSH community - all the students, teaching and non-teaching staff, parents.

Guidelines:

The person who is displaying the bullying Behaviours must be left in no doubt that bullying is unacceptable and that this conduct will be systematically monitored. As a general principle, however, it is best to avoid confrontation and harsh sanction, as aggression breeds aggression and the bully is likely to become more vindictive.

The person who is displaying the bullying Behaviours is most likely to change their Behaviour when they are helped to see things from the target’s perspective and to feel social pressure from their peers rather than righteous indignation from adults. In this way, the person who is displaying the bullying Behaviours may begin to realize that the group opinion is against them.

PREVENTION:

TOME HIGH SCHOOL will prevent bullying by:

• Raising awareness of what bullying is.
• Promoting pro-social Behaviour.
• Promoting strategies to protect and support the targets.
• Dealing effectively with incidents .
• Regularly review the Anti-Bullying Policy.
• Provide information and training for all members of staff to prevent bullying manage incidents and create and maintain a culture of mutual respect, free from bullying Behaviour.

Supports for staff:

The Board of Management must ensure that members of school staff have sufficient familiarity with the school’s anti bullying policy to enable them to effectively and consistently apply the policy when required. Supports for staff should be appropriate to the individual’s role and should enable staff to recognize bullying, implement effective strategies for preventing bullying and where appropriate, intervene effectively in bullying cases.