Weekly anti-bullying lessons at Pretty Beach

Pretty Beach Public School is conducting weekly anti-bullying lessons during term three, with the theme "Expect respect".

"Our focus on anti-bullying across all K-6 classrooms will be presented through weekly lessons," said teacher Ms Katrina Hutchens.

"This series of lessons has been developed specially for our school context, and they also link to the NSW Department of Education Child Protection Curriculum."

She said lessons covered topics such as power in relationships, saying "No", coercion, harassment, assertiveness in different situations, talking to adults about a problem and using personal networks for support.

"At our school we understand that bullying is a very complex social behaviour that occurs between people of all kinds and all ages.

"It is likely that bullying behaviour could, at times, be evident amongst groups of children during their schooling.

"However, our school is taking an intentional, proactive approach to reduce the likelihood of bullying behaviour at our school."

She said the school had a four-point philosophy.

"Teach the definition of bullying behaviour (teach the difference between what is rude, what is mean and what is bullying) and then teach the pro-social behaviours we expect to see at our school. This means explicitly teaching how to be respectful.

"Teach students how to report possible bullying behaviours (immediate self-report or peer report) and who to report to (teachers first).

"Teach teachers how to respond consistently and respectfully to any report of bullying behaviour and how to explore these reports with relevant students in a respectful way.

"Develop school-wide systems for reporting concerning behaviour (eg self-report, anonymous report, online report)."

Ms Hutchens said: "Child Protection lessons are often a safe space for students to talk candidly about events that are currently concerning them relating to social relationships.

"In all lessons, there is a clear learning intention for all students and a clear link to expected social behaviours relating to social inclusion/exclusion, covert bullying behaviours and complex social dynamics related to bullying."

She said the first two of our eight school-based lessons were available on the school's "expect respect" website.

SOURCE:

Newsletter, 20 Aug 2020

Katrina Hutchens, Pretty Beach Public School