Building Respectful and Safe Schools

Any situation where a member of the school community feels unsafe at school due to bullying or any form of unacceptable behaviour such as harassment, discrimination or a threat or act of violence is not tolerated in Victorian government schools.

Anti-bullying guidelines, Safe Schools are Effective Schools, were introduced in Victorian government schools in 2006 and provided clear advice on strategies to prevent, and respond to, bullying. Since this time, there have been significant developments in approaches to prevent bullying and support children and young people to develop the knowledge and skills to respect and look after themselves and others in the school environment and the broader community. This includes the challenges children and young people face with increasing use of digital technologies and participation in the online world.

Building Respectful and Safe Schools: A resource for school communities (PDF - 851Kb) updates and replaces the Safe Schools are Effective Schools guidelines, providing renewed guidance to promote and support safe and respectful learning environments. This encompasses a broad definition of the school environment including digital learning spaces, communication using digital technologies, and situations when students are outside the classroom, such as travelling to and from school and in the playground.

Student Engagement Policy Guidelines

This resource is a supporting document to the Effective Schools are Engaging Schools: Student Engagement Policy Guidelines which require all Victorian government schools to develop and apply a Student Engagement Policy articulating the rights, responsibilities and shared expectations of everyone in the school community. The resource provides detailed information and strategies to assist schools in implementing and continuously improving their Student Engagement Policy to be inclusive of processes and strategies to prevent and respond to incidents of bullying and other forms of unacceptable behaviour.

This is a resource for all members of the school community - principals, teachers and other school staff, students, families, school councils, and individuals and organisations within the community. It provides guidance that can be useful in supporting the school community to work together to provide a respectful and safe school and broader community.

The resource includes:

• Roles and responsibilities of the whole school community
• Definitions of bullying and other forms of unacceptable behaviour
• Student Engagement Policy requirements
• Characteristics and strategies for respectful and safe schools
• Strategies for schools to respond to bullying and unacceptable behaviour including preventing cyberbullying, responding to homophobic bullying and incidents that have a serious impact on individuals or the school
• Advice for parents and carers to respond to bullying and unacceptable behaviour
• Useful resources and further information