Bullying

Bullying is when one or more people, deliberately upset or hurt another person, their property, reputation or social acceptance, and this action is repeated over time. 

There are three broad categories of bullying.

• Direct physical bullying e.g. hitting, tripping, and pushing or damaging property.
• Direct verbal bullying e.g. name calling, insults, homophobic or racist remarks, verbal abuse.
• Indirect bullying - This form of bullying is harder to recognise and often carried out behind the bullied student’s back. It is designed to harm someone’s social reputation and/or cause humiliation.

A situation where a student feels unsafe in school because of bullying is not tolerated in Victorian government schools.

Schools have policies and guidelines to prevent and manage bullying. The Department is committed to providing safe, secure and stimulating environments for all students. As part of this commitment the Department provides a range of anti-bullying policies and strategies, schools are also required to include anti-bullying strategies in their Student Code of Conduct.

If you have concerns about bullying, contact your school.

More information

For information about how to deal with bullying, see Strategies for Parents.

See also:

• Safe Schools are Effective Schools - provides information about the Department's new anti-bullying guidelines and policies for all Victorian government schools. Included in the web site are links to web sites for children, and factsheets for parents
• Effective Schools are Engaging Schools - Student Engagement Policy Guidelines (PDF - 876Kb) - the guidelines for developing the student code of conduct aims at creating a safe, positive and supportive school environment in which each student can enjoy their opportunities, both academic and social, and achieve their greatest potential educationally.

If you wish to contact the school, see: Find an Early Childhood Service or School or Region contact information.