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Whole school community

Building a safe and supportive school and preventing bullying

Develop active, trusting relationships among all school community groups

Value the varying contributions, skills and knowledge of all school community groups.

• Summary
• Examples

Summary

Within our school communities there is a diversity of groups and people who can share their local and cultural knowledge and a range of skills in the development of a supportive school environment. Any attempt to search for a single answer would deny the opportunity for all members of the school community to contribute and have their voices heard. We need to ensure that this knowledge is actively welcomed from all groups and valued as an important part of the process of creating a supportive school environment.

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Examples

• Valuing the cultural knowledge of its wider school community, a remote island school has established a relationship with a local elder. The respected elder has become a conduit between the school staff, students and the parent community. Staff are now equipped with a greater understanding of the cultural significance of bullying and harassment. The elder's emphasis on education within the community has increased the level of parent participation in decision making. Bullying and harassment have reduced, and students feel safer and are demonstrating an increased sense of belonging, increased caring and connectedness with learning.

  Schools in action:
  Creating partners for success

• Within a secondary school, a student-initiated survey identified that bullying occurred primarily between cultural groups in the school grounds; that these incidents were often not reported to teachers; and that students' first priorities were improvements to the amenity blocks and staff-student relationships. Support through curriculum units, staff and parents' groups enabled the student body to lead the refurbishment and relationships projects. The initiatives have been pronounced a success resulting in increased student safety, satisfaction and pride in the school grounds, and willingness to speak up about discriminatory behaviours. Bullying and harassment have declined, there is a greater sense of connectedness and trust between staff and students, and students play an ongoing role to create positive change in the school.