Concord Connect

Student Wellbeing

Term 1

Congratulations to all students who have been elected by their peers to the SRC.

Student Representative Council

The first Student Representative Council (SRC) meeting for 2022 was held last week. The SRC will be leading and promoting the 'Kindness Culture' project, being held on Friday 18th March (see information below.)  An out of uniform day has been organised and students are encouraged to wear ‘a touch of orange’ if possible.  Orange signifies mutual respect, support for cultural diversity and inclusion.  A gold coin donation is requested and the SRC will discuss and decide upon which charity to donate this to.

Planning for a safe and supportive school community  

 

On Friday 18 March 2022, Concord School is participating in the National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence (NDA). The NDA is Australia’s key bullying prevention initiative, connecting schools and communities to find workable solutions to prevent bullying.  

 

The theme for the 2022 NDA is Kindness Culture. Concord School will demonstrate Kindness Culture by holding an out of uniform day in addition to participating in activities planned by the Student Wellbeing and Engagement Leaders and SRC representatives that promote inclusiveness, respect and community belonging for all students.   

 

Planning for a safe and supportive school community requires a whole-school community approach. Whole-school responses to bullying prevention build positive and supportive school environments by incorporating strategies for intervention at all levels, inclusive of students, teachers, parents and carers.  

 

Three key characteristics outlined in the national definition of bullying distinguish bullying behaviours from other forms of peer aggression behaviours which do not constitute bullying. 

 

The key characteristics of bullying include: 

  1. Power imbalance.
  2. Deliberate intent to cause harm.
  3. Ongoing and repeated behaviour. 

 

While the following behaviours of peer aggression do not constitute bullying, these behaviours may still be serious and require intervention at home and at school: 

  • arguments and disagreements (where there is no power imbalance) 
  • single acts of social rejection or meanness, or 
  • isolated incidents of aggression, intimidation or violence.  

It is important for our entire school community, including our staff, parents, carers and students to have a clear understanding of the definition of bullying to be able to distinguish these behaviours from peer aggression, and correctly identify and respond to incidents of bullying.  The full national definition can be read here. 

 

Knowing the types of bullying behaviour can also help you identify if the incident is bullying, or peer aggression. While neither of these behaviours are tolerated at Concord School, they do require different management strategies, and the first step for responding is to correctly identify the behaviour.  

 

You can read the Concord School bullying prevention policy here to learn more about our school’s process for managing incidents of bullying.  

For more information, please visit the Bullying. No Way! website for additional resources.