Student Safety and 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 – hitting, tripping, and pushing or damaging property
• direct verbal bullying – name calling, insults, homophobic or racist remarks and other 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 more information about how to deal with bullying, see: Strategies for Parents.