Bullying in schools around the nation seems to be an ever-present issue, but high school principals in the valley share the same vision to promote positivity.
The Guardian News spoke with school principals around the valley to discuss the issue of bullying in schools and how they dealt with bad behaviour. Bowraville Central School Principal Malcolm McFarlane said there was a societal shift in the kinds of behaviour people accepted.
“We have behavioural incidents that are a concern, but we also have awesome behaviour,” Mr McFarlane said.
“We encourage positive behaviour and when there is an issue, it is dealt with in a peer manner, with the older students helping the younger ones.
Mr McFarlane said that within every group of people there were different dynamics that needed taking into account.
“You talk to anybody, and some of their memories of school will be of getting a hard time.
“As a group we have to go back to core values; as a group we must not accept bullying and address the issue as a group.”
Mr McFarlane said it was important to keep the community informed of the challenges faced by teachers.
“As a school we say no to what we do not accept but you have to have parents on board too.”
Providing a supportive and positive teaching framework is something that is valued by Macksville High School Principal Paul Holding.
Mr Holding said Macksville High School had many programs in place to help students achieve their goals both academically and socially.
“We have a learning support centre, which helps to improve the self-esteem and resilience of students needing that service,” Mr Holding said.
“Within the school is a welfare and discipline system aimed at identifying students causing concern and helping improve their social skills.
“We also mediate between students and monitor those outcomes.”
Mr Holding said Macksville High School had a broad curriculum, including sport and academic extra-curricular activities, which enabled students to generate relationships with groups outside of their normal social mix.
“Schools in the valley do a very good job educating and teaching students to be productive members of society,” Mr Holding said.
“We work hard at developing the whole person, academically and socially.
“If we can help students develop positive attitudes and values, these kids will succeed at university and work.”
Developing positive attitudes and positive relationships with students is something that Nambucca Heads High School Principal Hilton Humphries regards above programs.
“It is about building relationships with those people that cause bullying and those who are being bullied,” Mr Humphries said.
“Staff at this school spend many many hours sitting down and talking to kids; we do run mentor and support programs.
“It is about building trust with them.”
Supporting the good work undertaken at schools is a range of government resources available to teachers, students and parents.
Sites such as ‘Bullying. No way!’, which was developed as an educational website for Australian school communities and the general public, exist to combat the problem of violence and anti-social behaviour in schools.
The ‘Bullying. No Way’ website was developed and managed through the ‘Safe and Supportive School Communities: Finding workable solutions for countering bullying, harassment and violence in schools (SSSC) project’ – and is a collaborative initiative involving all participating Australian education authorities.
The aim of the online resource is to provide a nationwide resource of state and territory approaches to minimising bullying, harassment and violence in schools.
Goals of the site are to develop a framework for sharing Australian school community solutions that work, to use technology and networks to make this information as accessible as possible to school communities, and to make sure that all students can learn in a safe and supportive school environment.
The site offers a broad range of information and advice on topics ranging from behaviour management to school-community relations.
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