Students will not stay silent about bullying
STATISTICS show onlookers watch 85 per cent of bullying interactions. Toowoomba Grammar School has a plan stop this.
Toowoomba
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YOUNG Bill Johansen may only be six years old but he already knows what to do if he sees a fellow student bullied.
“Help them fight back, or tell a teacher,” he said.
Bill learnt this message while jogging laps with a Year 12 student during the Toowoomba Grammar School Buddy Run yesterday.
The program pairs seniors with preppies so the older boys can teach the younger ones to develop healthy friendships.
Prefect Campbell Snow said the initiative was needed in the age of cyberbully.
“I think it is pretty awesome. We did not do anything like this when I was younger,” he said.
“The prevalence of online communities made bullying multidimensional.
“I have never been a victim or a perpetrator of bullying online, but I know of people who had felt victimised or intimidated.”
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According the Australian Government’s Bully, No Way! program, 20 per cent of Australian students are bullied online. Worryingly, peers are present as onlookers in 85 per cent of bullying interactions and play a central role in the bullying process.
Hurtful teasing and telling hurtful lies are the most common forms of bullying.
Getting students to develop the right attitude was an important step to reducing bullying rates.
Campbell said he was keen to encourage younger kids to speak up if they saw their peers attacked, either physically or online.
“At Toowoomba Grammar we really push the importance of not being a bystander,” he said.
“It is something we talk about a lot in the leadership team.
“I talked to my buddy about how to foster good relationships with his mates, how to build a support network and how to talk to teachers about problems they may be having with bullies.”
About 150 Prep, Year 1 and Year 12 students took part in the Buddy Run.
Head of Senior School Mark Oliphant said TGS was serious about tackling cyber-bullying.
“We are going through the process of becoming an accredited eSmart School because it is really important that the school had effective policies and procedures in place for preventing and managing negative interactions and bullying.”