At School 5-18

Bullying

Victorian government schools take bullying very seriously and have guidelines for its prevention and management.

Bullying occurs when one or more people deliberately and repeatedly upset or hurt another person, damage their property, reputation or social acceptance.

Bullying can take many forms:

  • direct physical bullying involving behaviour such as hitting, tripping, and pushing or damaging property
  • direct verbal bullying includes behaviour such as name-calling, insults, homophobic or racist remarks
  • indirect bullying is harder to recognise and often takes place ‘behind someone’s back’. This type of bullying is designed to damage a person’s reputation or cause humiliation. It includes behaviour such as lying and spreading rumours, playing nasty jokes, mimicking and encouraging social exclusion
  • cyberbullying is when technology – such as mobile phones, social networking sites and email – are used to create, display or send information or images which are used to harm or harass another person.
  • There are also many distressing behaviours that are not regarded as bullying, even though they are unpleasant and often require teacher intervention and management. These can include:
  • mutual conflict (conflict where both parties are responsible)
  • social rejection or dislike
  • single-episode acts of nastiness or meanness
  • random acts of aggression and intimidation.

All Victorian government schools are required to include anti-bullying strategies in their Student Engagement Policy (or their Student Code of Conduct).

Schools have a duty of care to take reasonable measures to prevent foreseeable risks of injury to their students.

How can I tell if my child is being bullied or bullying others and what can I do?

Discovering your child is being bullied or bullying others is stressful and upsetting. Most parents initially experience anger, confusion and guilt.

Signs that may mean your child is being bullied include:

  • wanting to stay home
  • wanting to travel to school a different way to avoid bullies
  • being very tense or unhappy after going to school and refusing to talk about it
  • changed behaviour and a loss of confidence or self-esteem
  • physical sings, such as bruises or scratches, weight gain or loss
  • talking about hating school or not having any friends
  • doing poorly in school work.

These signs might indicate a problem other than bullying so it is important to discuss with your child what is bothering them.

What you can do

If your child is being bullied or bullying others you should:

  • listen carefully to your child and show concern and support
  • give considered advice – don’t encourage your child to fight back as this will most likely increase bullying
  • help your child to develop positive strategies – such as saying ‘Leave me alone’, calmly walking away or avoiding situations that might expose them to further bullying
  • ask your child questions to understand if there is a repeated pattern of bullying
  • establish what, when, where the incident(s) happened and who was involved
  • work with your child’s school to solve the problem by establishing a plan for dealing with the current situation and future bullying incidents.

You can then work with your child’s school to solve the problem by contacting the school and making an appointment to discuss the issue. Do not directly approach any other student or their family.

More information

For more information about how to deal with bullying, see: