St Andrew’s College condemns bullying in any form and the school recently ran an Anti-Bullying Campaign which lasted a week. The kick-start of the campaign was a service in the Chapel with a challenge to all the pupils of the school. During the course of the week there were addresses give by the Headmaster, Chaplain, Headboy, Deputy Headboy and various teachers and tutors. The weeks events were reinforced by having House prayers, posters displayed in the Houses, information on the Intranet, the Web page, a display in the Cawse Library, awareness during Life Orientation lessons and Tutor periods; and interaction with Prep and DSG.
Having a Bullying Awareness Week was always just meant to be the start of a bigger process. Continual reference to bullying, focussing on opportunities to build people up and to give them the mental skills to cope with the bullies is what we hope to achieve in the future. The plan is to establish a whole-school policy in awareness-raising and consultation. Everybody in school has discussed and understood the problem of bullying, and agreed on good and bad practice. Secondly there should be an Implementation of the policy where all teachers are able to give clear insight as to procedure to take place once an incident has occurred. The Bullying Awareness Week involving the whole school has helped with this process. Regular monitoring needs to take place to show whether our policies are effective or not. Constant reminders will need to be sent out as a low profile policy can be easily forgotten, and in subsequent years, new pupils need to be made aware of the policy. Evaluation of data is essential, which staff, families, pupils and the board provide, to review and update the policy at least once every school year. Changing the culture of a school with regards to bullying IS possible if all concerned are passionate and energetic enough to stamp out this evil. I believe it is a wonderful challenge for us all!! Günther Marx Quotes: "It is never the wrong time to do the right thing we therefore need to identify, address, and eradicate bullying from St Andrews College." - Ryan Dugmore "Your first actions are always the most meaningful. So be sure to behave appropriatly towards others because you never know how this will affect them." -James Price "Bullying is a prevelant issue at all boys schools and I think that addressing it with a week like we have done will start the transformation of schools into a more accepting, friendly environment for all, where boys can thrive as individuals while working in a team." - Robert Morris
