NSW government to create anti-bullying policy for all schools

NSW’s education minister has declared the state will unite for the first time on a bullying strategy after the release of The Sunday Telegraph documentary, Charlotte’s Wish.

EducationMinister Prue Car has declared the state government “for the first time” is uniting public, catholic and private schools to find bullying strategies, policies and procedures that more than 3000 schools across NSW can apply.

The NSW Schools Advisory Council, which represents about 3120 schools across the state, will convene on December 5 to start working on a statewide approach to address bullying in schools.

It includes representatives from all education sectors which have come together to address the issue.

“That will be us working together to ensure we have the right policies, that we have the right procedures to follow when a student is being bullied,” Ms Car said.

“(And) that parents know that no matter where you are sending your child to school in NSW, there will be a way that every school will need to comply with policies and procedures to keep them safe.”

WATCH THE FULL DOCUMENTARY IN THE VIDEO PLAYER ABOVE

The Sunday Telegraph today launched the documentary Charlotte’s Wish.

Eight families who have lost children to suicide in the face of bullying, and dozens of other people whose lives have been ripped apart by the devastating impact, were interviewed during the two-month investigation.

Watch Charlotte’s Wish in the video player above.

The investigation was launched following the suicide of 12-year-old Charlotte O’Brien — tragically bullied — whose dying wish was for her parents to raise awareness about the crisis.

Asked about the documentary on Sunday, Ms Car said “as a parent … I can’t think of anything that concerns me more than this”.

“You send your child to school to learn, not only how to read and add up, but also how to grow into an adult, how to navigate the world,” Ms Car said.

“The world that our children are living in is increasingly complex, so we need to do everything we can as school systems to help them navigate that.”

Ms Car said the government can’t “take away online bullying”, but in turn, it can “put things in place” to help schools, families and protect kids because what happened to Charlotte was “frightening” and “heartbreaking”.

She also addressed concerns about social media, saying the government was concerned with the “unregulated experiment … social media” has had on young people.

Minister for Education Prue Car. Picture: Tom Parrish

“Snapchat is difficult because of the nature of the fact that the messages disappear and while no government is going to be able to get rid of social media platforms, we firstly need to put rules in place to protect kids,” she said.

“The Premier has made it really clear that we will do everything possible to work with the federal government to make sure that these news laws protect our kids.

“I have to say the Premier and the Premier of South Australia have been leading on this for some months now as a result of our concern.”

Ms Car said the government will look to “go through all of the procedures” in all school sectors to find ways to improve them, and admitted “unfortunately we’re playing catch-up”.

NSW Premier Chris Minns said his government supported a “nationally consistent approach” to bullying and while “that may take some time” he would be “exploring what we can do here in NSW immediately”.