NSW school bullying: Parents urge for statewide policy
Parents and experts want a standard bullying code across all schools to stamp out policies that sees some schools stand tough on the issue while others allow it to fester. It comes as victims reveal the devastating impact bullying has had on their lives
NSW
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Parent groups have urged Education Minister Sarah Mitchell to back The Daily Telegraph’s campaign for a single authoritative anti-bullying rule book across public and private schools.
Experts are calling for standard bullying rules across all schools to stamp out the patchwork of policies that sees some schools stand tough on the issue while others allow it to fester.
It comes as victims reveal the devastating impact bullying has had on their lives, with one mother accusing a school of turning a blind eye after a bully punched her 13-year-old child and later brought a knife to school.
Under current rules, all schools must have an anti-bullying policy registered by the NSW Education Standards Authority.
But the system does not stipulate what the policy should include.
Macquarie University bullying expert Dr Kay Bussey said consistency was needed,
“The education Department has guidelines saying that every state school has to have a bullying policy but that is about as far as it goes,” she said.
“When you get to the independent schools there is great variability — some want to advertise that they are really proactive in respect to bullying, whereas others want to hide it under the carpet.”
NSW Department of Education Deputy Secretary Jane Simmons said in the last five years
an anti bullying website had been developed and a behaviour code was established for students.
She said while the situation had improved in primary schools, she hoped that trend would continue in secondary schools in the coming years.
“Things don’t change overnight, it is about changing behaviours and that is what we certainly encourage,” she said.
“In the last few years we have clarified what our incident reporting processes are so we reinforce what is unacceptable behaviour.”
‘CHILDREN DIE FROM BEING BULLIED’
Central Coast Council of P&Cs president Sharryn Brownlee said while some schools took a tough stance, a single policy for every school would stop victims slipping through the cracks.
“This is a really important issue because children die from being bullied, children are alienated from being bullied, their life in their families is chaos and the violence spills out to the community later on,” she said.
“The responsibility sits with the Minister and the Department to make sure every child in every setting is safe.”
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New data shows the number of public primary school students who say they have been bullied has plummeted while rates of bullying among high school students has risen.
She called on public high school principals to replicate the policies which had seen primary schools across the state reduce the incidence of bullying from 36 per cent of students in 2015 to just 30 per cent last year.
Over the same period, the number of students who said they were bullied in high school increased from 22 to 24 per cent.
“Great schools have staff and executives who are on bus duty, who walk the children to the train, who are at the gate every morning. Those schools have less bullying incidents and less critical incidents,” Brownlee said.
Among those schools include Gosford High School where students who catch the train back to Hornsby every afternoon are supervised by teachers on the walk to the station.
NSW Parent Council president Rose Cantali also supported a single evidenced based policy for all schools because students’ mental health was at risk.
“A lot of the newer schools don’t really have a good understanding of what is going on with mental health, they need support,” she said.
A NSW Education Department spokeswoman said the government was investing $88.4 million over four years to provide every public high school with a full-time school counselling allocation, as well as a full-time student support officer.
STUDENTS UNDER PRESSURE
The call for a single policy comes as the number of students who said they were nervous, stressed or under pressure jumped from 35.6 per cent in 2008 to 40.7 per cent in 2017, according to Health Department data.
And among young people aged 15-24, suicide rates have almost doubled from six per 100,000 people in 2008 to 11.2 in 2018.
Education Minister Sarah Mitchell backed calls to make data about bullying more transparent in schools but stopped short of endorsing a standard policy for individual schools.
“Managing bullying and behaviour at schools is a complex issue and is often unique to individual schools,” she said.
“Social media adds another dimension to bullying and we need to constantly adapt our strategies. Anything that increases transparency across the system and helps us understand what is happening both in the playground and online is worth pursuing.”
NSW Shooters and Fishers MP and ex-teacher Mark Banasiak supported investigating a single bullying rule book.
“The high expectations of schools (which) will not tolerate bullying (should be) mirrored across the state and across any system whether it is public, Catholic, independent,” he said.
At Knox Grammar the bullying policy has been updated this year from a previous policy which told students “DON’T BE A VICTIM” and said “Victims can attract bullying behaviour”.
After being contacted by The Daily Telegraph, a school spokesman said the policy was outdated and this year’s bullying handbook did not contain that section.
Cyber bullying expert Melinda Tankard Reist said a standard policy on bullying across all schools should include cyber bullying outside classroom hours because teachers could fob parents off by saying they can only police what happens inside the school gates.
“Schools have a responsibility to create a safe educational environment but behaviour outside the school by students still needs to be addressed because the effects are so significant leading to suicidal thoughts,” she said.
BULLY VICTIM LEFT TO SUFFER IN SILENCE
Dispute mediator Reece Kirby was just 10 when he was first “tormented” by bullies at an independent Catholic school in Sydney’s northwest. Every day, he was heckled by other students for being “fat” and “different.”
“The bullies would pick on everything I was doing or saying, mimic me and start rumours,” he told The Daily Telegraph.
Stalked and intimidated in the schoolyard and told his mum was a “slut,” the disparagement was relentless over a period of two years.
When he finally mustered the courage to tell his parents, things changed – but only for a fleeting moment. Within days, the bullies were back.
“They went to the school and the parents’ bully was called in and everything seemed to progress, but then life went on and it kept happening.
“I would go to teachers and they were like ‘are we really still talking about this?’ or ‘you need to man up.’ I was seen as an annoyance to the teachers.”
But his ordeal didn’t end there. A few months after joining an independent high school in Sydney’s northwest, he was subjected to the same torment.
It started with insults like being called “fat” but would later turn into people ignoring him completely.
In Year 11, students would photoshop photos of his face on bestiality pornography and post it online then send him three-page essays with “hateful commentary”.
At one point, he received a death threat. “One kid said, ‘I know where you live and where you go after school. If you find a box cutter in your back, don’t be surprised.’”
The ordeal drove him into a deep depression, where suicidal thoughts would take over.
To this day, he is “disappointed” the school never intervened and didn’t have enough safeguards in place to prevent the bullying from happening.
While he is now uplifted by the support of a loving wife, he thinks schools’ attitude to bullying needs to fundamentally change.
“If parents and schools are open to communication and concerned about kids’ wellbeing, they will act appropriately.”
‘NOTHING HAPPENED’: CRIES FOR HELP IGNORED
Westmead mental health campaigner and recruiter Maddie Lee, 24, developed anxiety and panic disorder after being ridiculed and tormented by bullies in high school.
At age 13, she was lured into a room by people she thought were her friends and “berated” with “horrible, mean” comments. Labelled “dumb” and “stupid,” she would go on to have her first panic attack at 16.
“My self-confidence went down the drain and I grew a sense of anxiety and paranoia about what other people thought of me,” she said.
Too “scared” to speak up, it wasn’t until her mum noticed that she was withdrawn, that the issue was raised with the school. A teacher promised to act, but nothing was done.
“We went to a parent-teacher interview and spoke out about the bullying. The teacher said she would be on the lookout and do something, but nothing happened.”
Ms Lee would go on to see a psychologist, and turn her life around by confronting the bullies and advocating for mental health as a school captain.
Today, she still “has her days,” but is emboldened by her experiences, having now achieved her wildest dreams – completing an exchange in Canada, graduating with a psychology degree and advocating for youth mental health.
She is calling for dramatic changes to the way schools address bullying.
“A standardised process across all schools would be beneficial so that no matter where you go, it will still be the same, structured process,” Ms Lee said.
13YO GIRL PUNCHED IN TERRIFYING ORDEAL
When she first started high school in January this year, the 13-year-old school student was a sociable and bubbly child.
Within months, she would “change completely,” and become “withdrawn” after being bullied physically and online at a public school in Sydney’s west.
The Year 7 student, who declined to be named, was subjected to a six-month bullying ordeal after a girl she thought was her friend turned against her after being home schooled during the pandemic.
She would call her “nasty” and spread rumours about her to other students. On two occasions, she punched her and brought a knife into school to “show her how to cut her wrists.”
When her mother flagged the issue, the bully was suspended for three days. But once she returned, so did the bullying.
“I tried to talk but they didn’t do anything,” the teenager said. “Later they said it was my fault.”
Her mother has been deeply “frustrated” by the school’s response to her complaints.
She says that when she contacts them “they never get back to me or just make excuses” and at one point was dismissed and simply told, “girls will be girls.”
The impact of the ordeal on her daughter has been “devastating,” leaving her and her partner with no choice but to move her to another school.
“The school won’t see the serious side of everything. I feel they won’t act until it’s too late … There is no support at all,” she said.
“It’s upsetting to see your child and not be able to do anything.”
The attitude towards bullying in NSW schools needs to change, she says, and a “zero tolerance” policy, with no exceptions, is crucial.
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Originally published as NSW school bullying: Parents urge for statewide policy