Proudly supporting Bullying No Way: National week of action

This year Miners Rest Primary School will be participating in the Bullying No Way: National week of action, 17 to 21 August 2026.

Students will participate in classroom activities that promote kindness and inclusion to bring greater awareness to understanding bullying, signs of bullying and the impacts it can have on people.

Bullying No Way Week is a commitment being made by thousands of schools and supporters across the country. It provides an opportunity to demonstrate our commitment to bullying prevention. It gives us an opportunity to connect with students, staff and school communities to implement workable solutions to prevent bullying.

The theme for this year's campaign is Small Acts, Big Impact.

It takes a community to address bullying behaviours, within and beyond the school gate.

Students can make a big impact through small acts of kindness and support for others being bullied. Trusted adults are there to guide children and young people as they learn how small, thoughtful actions can create a positive difference and encourage reporting of bullying.

This Bullying No Way Week, we’re encouraging you to embrace the theme Small Acts, Big Impact. Show kindness, support others and take meaningful steps to stand up against bullying.

For more information about Bullying No Way Week and bullying prevention,

visit the Bullying No Way website.

Understanding Bullying

There is a nationally agreed definition of bullying that all Australian schools use:

"Bullying is an ongoing and deliberate misuse of power in relationships through repeated verbal, physical and/or social behaviour that intends to cause physical, social and/or psychological harm. It can involve an individual or a group misusing their power, or perceived power, over one or more persons who feel unable to stop it from happening. Bullying can happen in person or online, via various digital platforms and devices and it can be obvious (overt) or hidden (covert). Bullying behaviour is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time (for example, through sharing of digital records).Bullying of any form or for any reason can have immediate, medium and long-term effects on those involved, including bystanders. Single incidents and conflict or fights between equals, whether in person or online, are not defined as bullying."

Australian Government (2021)

Elements of Bullying

There are three main elements that separate bullying from one-off incidents or other types of conflict.

Bullying involves a real or perceived (felt) imbalance of power between the person being bullied and the person bullying them.
Bullying happens repeatedly or could potentially be repeated (like with online behaviour).
Bullying consists of intentional acts that are aggressive, negative or harmful towards another.

What are the different types of bullying?

verbal (e.g., putting someone down or threatening to cause harm)
physical (e.g., contact that hurts someone or breaks their things)
social (e.g., spreading rumours, excluding someone, embarrassing someone in public)
cyberbullying (e.g., sending harmful messages, pictures or making comments on social networking sites, like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok or Snapchat). This type of bullying can be anonymous and posted online where it can be seen by lots of people. And it can go on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so people don’t get a rest from it.

Useful links and resources:

Raising Children Network: https://raisingchildren.net.au/

Bullying No Way: https://www.bullyingnoway.gov.au/

Miners Rest Primary School Key Documents and Policies: https://minersrestps.vic.edu.au/key-documents/

Canteen News