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All incidents of reported bullying have always been taken seriously says the board of an under-fire Catholic school.
The board of St Benedict’s School, Khandallah says investigations into past events were undertaken and there were consequences where appropriate.
“The board, principal and staff remain committed to continual improvement in this space” said board presiding member Lucy Woollaston.
“We continue to welcome concerns, questions and feedback and will work through these carefully so that each family feels fully assured about what we have in place to safeguard health, safety and well-being for each and every child.
“This remains our highest priority.”
Teaching good behaviour
The board introduced the Ministry of Education’s Positive Behaviour 4 Learning framework to the school last year.
In addition, it introduced the Finnish-developed KiVa programme (an anti-bullying programme) this year.
“These programmes are challenging to introduce in part because they require a shared understanding and agreement as to what constitutes unacceptable behaviour and other defined terms” Woollaston said.
“This has meant, as a school, we have had to have robust discussions about these shared definitions and we believe this has made us stronger as a team.”
A new framework providing shared definitions and consequences has been introduced to the school community, Woollaston said.
The framework enables the school to have open and honest conversations with families and foster partnership relationships with them.
“We rely on our families to trust us to look after and teach their precious children and we rely on our families to reinforce the values we teach in their homes, playgrounds and communities.
“We are in this together and we continue to strive to provide a safe and exciting learning environment so that our children leave St Benedict’s as empathetic young people with perseverance, integrity and creativity.”
The school featured again this week in the media after three more complaints about bullying were made public.
New Zealand’s shameful bullying record
International research shows New Zealand has the highest school bullying rates in the developed world.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) PISA 2018 survey found 15 percent of Kiwi students reported being frequently bullied.
Bullying severely affects students’ mental health and attendance, the OECD report points out.
Seatoun’s School Principal isn’t surprised at the report’s findings “looking at our wider community and some of our leaders and how they behave”.
A 2021 report – “He Whakaaro: What do we know about bullying behaviour in New Zealand?” – paints an even worse picture.
It says about 36 percent of Year 5 and 38 percent of Year 9 students reported that they were bullied on a monthly basis.
It also says about 33 percent of 15-year-old New Zealand students say they have never been bullied.
The most common forms of bullying are reportedly ‘Being made fun of’ and ‘being excluded on purpose from activities’ He Whakaaro says.
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