What we have to say
Creating a supportive school community
A low socioeconomic, culturally diverse secondary school community talks about increasing student ownership, participation, support and safety.
- Junior secondary students
- Senior secondary students
- Teachers
- Deputy principals
- Support staff and agencies
Junior secondary students
Jason: It's not just kids that have to deal with it … They tell their parents and they get upset. Their parents don't know what to do about it either because it's not as easy as ringing up the teachers and saying I want something done … We need something to help the parents as well.
Shiloh: There's a boy from my class and if he went home and told his mum, his mum would have probably rung up the school and the kids would have heard about it. So you get called a sissy because you told your mum and your mum has to deal with it. And if you fight back it makes it worse.
Jason: And some people just put up with it [because] they think that if they tell someone, that they'll get in trouble themselves.
Iona: There's stuff happening here that's good and it's making a difference. The senior students did a survey. We got asked what we'd like changed in the school and the kids voted for the toilets and lunch areas being improved and more things we can do if we get picked on. And we're getting that.
Senior secondary students
Cathy: We wanted to address all the issues that the students felt were big in the school so we redid some toilets and put shade banners up, we did murals in the toilets as well, by the students, so that was like ownership …Now we're trying to really focus on students' and the teachers' stress and things like bullying. We did a barbecue for the teachers and they were really appreciative of that. Now when I'm working down the walkways, a teacher will say 'hello' and tell me how good that barbecue was. We did that … just to build up teacher-student relationships. Now for stress control the teachers are getting masseurs in and yoga in the afternoons. For the students, for the bullying, we're holding workshops. We did the Peer Skills workshop – now through Kids' Help we're going for something similar, so students will know how to cope.
Philippe: We, some of the leaders, went to this leadership course with motivational speakers. It was to help leaders get a plan of what we wanted to do in the school.
Anitra: To get the students' views on what they wanted, we conducted a survey and it was really beneficial because they said what they liked, what they didn't like and now we're working on those. By doing the surveys it's a lot easier.
David: You know then what students want.
Anitra: Now it's more specific, like water taps. We were thinking more of the bigger picture, not like that. And all the students are now respecting the toilets, if you can say that: caring about their environment, reducing problems and making lots of improvement. Students are feeling safer and more comfortable.
Lyn: With our survey, we're discussing bullying and sexual harassment because they may not affect us as individuals but they're obviously affecting people in the school … so we're looking into organising strategies – the sorts of things that people want.
Philippe: I think an important issue with bullying is Year 7s coming into Year 8. When I was in Year 7 I was shy and pretty quiet … I used to get worried that I'd get picked on and bullied around. So I think that if you target Year 7 schools to get into this website as well, they can hear what students' responses are.
Claire: For my Life Skills assignment, I did the transition from Year 7 to Year 8. We did a survey and a lot of the students felt that the buddy system we run is really good because they know that they've got a person to help them if something happens like that …
Victoria: But I think we do things too slowly because even now we're still having Year 8s go on buddy camp after a whole term. I think we have to get this really early on …
Philippe: Right at the beginning of the year would be a good time … just after our induction so they get to know their own peers as well as their senior buddies, not just be segregated.
Jan: In the surveys that they did, nearly all of them said 'I was worried that I didn't know anyone', or 'I was going to get picked on'. That was a big worry for them.
Anitra: Most of them realise though that they have friends from their old school. Even though they may be scared … they realise that most of the older grades don't pick on them. They know what it was like, they've been there …
Teachers
Margaret: It's a supportive school environment. We have to look at it from a whole-school perspective, not just from one particular perspective. The issue in many schools is: how do we develop a supportive school environment policy that encompasses all these areas? So I think that what's important are some steps you can look at, because otherwise people are always reinventing …
Paul: … Just the minor things you tend to dismiss as being bullying, these are the things that can mean that it will escalate.
Margaret: You need to spell it out that it's not just bullying, it's whether you're getting down to the nitty gritty of providing an acceptable curriculum and all of those sorts of things … That sense of what support students are entitled to and what that means in terms of discrimination if you don't give them that. That also includes looking at people's attitudes and values because people construct their ideas of bullying. Being supportive or not supportive is linked to their own values and judgments so we need to be looking at how our own personal values are linked to what we see as acceptable or unacceptable – and how this matches up to the legislation and the policy.
Paul: So giving kids the skills to use, the body language, that sort of information, would be useful to students. That's one of the aspects we're working on. And making sure that all our community and cultural groups feel included.
Deputy principals
Simon: There isn't such a thing as a quick fix. That's a bandaid approach where you whack something on to stop a particular incident and it will all squeeze out the side.
Frank: A lot of little things are done here that make a difference.
Simon: We make sure we're a very safe school, that is, it's safe for all our students.
Frank: One of the things we really work on is the idea of choice, and of having clear expectations for all of us that everyone knows. The word 'choice' is all over the school. If you choose to behave in a certain way, you've chosen the consequence, either positive or negative. Just that word 'choice' has helped everyone take responsibility. And it's done calmly. Students feel safer because the whole school works together on the school expectations. They're clear and well publicised, so everyone knows their roles and they know that the school will follow through to support them.
Simon: You have to work hard to create that atmosphere of respect in the school. It's a long-term slow process where we all see that some behaviours are not on, that you treat each other respectfully. When there are issues, they're not just school-related – the Saturday night party fallouts. Some issues die away, others flare up. It's an ongoing process, addressing the issues – not just something that's started, then 'fixed'.
Frank: Working with the community has been really important. We have a lot of support, and a lot of community groups. We have a huge number of people looking out for kids' safety – chaplains, the school nurse ... and a school-based police officer. Kids are very happy to go to him about issues including bullying. They accept him. Then we've got our year coordinators. There's a really experienced band of people students can go to.
Simon: We've got a full-time Aboriginal Liaison Officer with a teacher aide. She also does a lot of work with the community outside. She's just come back from a 3- or 4-day camp at a dam with a health initiative, took about 8 or 9 kids with her. We have about 100 Vietnamese and Laotian students, and probably 300 Pacific Islander students.
Frank: Also what helps is that the music, art and drama, and dance sections are really strong here. That's an outlet for students to get into expressing themselves and they really like that.
Simon: Some of the senior students decided through their student council and a student survey to redo one of the toilet blocks – new cubicles, new tiling. The units were painted by the kids and we have a teacher on playground to watch these toilets. The kids have liked it and if any student was to leave a mark they'd be explaining themselves to their peers. The student council surveyed the students and responded to what kids wanted.
It's the whole culture. You bring all these aspects together. After school the resource centre stays open till 4.30 for students, four afternoons altogether for homework or assignments that they might not have time for at home, or on computers, the internet where they might not have these facilities at home. Teachers are there to help; they actively tutor. Makes a big difference – even just getting some mark means a level of success. Quite teacher-intensive but it works because that's the way people work here.
Support staff and agencies
Steve (school-based police officer): Part of my role as the school-based police officer is to promote a safe learning environment. Bullying doesn't promote a safe learning environment, therefore we are very keen to make people more aware and prevent it. Just for me personally, I interact with 3 or 4 students a day and if it is a family thing, I get on the phone to mum and dad at home and ask what's happening at home and do it from there. It helps that staff are willing to deal with issues and not brush students aside. Anyone who comes to see me, I treat them with respect because some issues that I may feel are nothing may mean the world to someone else. I also network a lot with the deputies, the liaison officer or 'guido' [counsellor/guidance officer] and health nurses.
Whenever students come to see me with whatever problem, it is dealt with then and there. If, say, they are being harassed, I will find the other student and have a chat. I can't think of an incident since I've been here where there has been ongoing behaviour. I think maybe being in uniform I can provide a legal perspective. It's the little things that matter because otherwise they become bigger things and you end up with a big situation.
Debbie (school-based nurse): We have lots of support staff from chaplains to police officers. And, from my perspective as school-based nurse, there are a lot of students at the school who potentially may internalise the issues. At lunch times I have a space where students can come in and be assured there'll be trust and respect on both sides. Kids don't have just one safety port only – there are lots of places for them to go.
Lavinia (teacher/librarian): As a teacher/librarian we provide a lot of things for kids to do. We have cushions and magazines, games and computers. There are lots of activities and it is a pretty vibrant, alive space. We have two homework centres - one for Indigenous students and another for all students.
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