Parents

Introduction
About the Friendly Schools & Families Program
Parents’ role in the Whole-school program to reduce bullying in schools

Introduction

Many students get involved in bullying at some time during their school days - they may be bullied themselves, they may bully someone else, or they may see a friend being bullied. Recent research into the effects of bullying clearly indicates that bullying can seriously affect children’s social, physical and psychological well being as well as their academic achievement.

Bullying can happen anywhere. Bullying happens mostly when children are in a social setting and school is the place where children spend the majority of their time with other children.

Bullying can range from teasing to name-calling, from spreading nasty rumours about someone to threats of intimidation or actual physical aggression. What's considered gentle teasing by one child might appear as intimidation to another. There's often a fine line between some of these behaviours and the effects of bullying can vary.

This site offers advice to parents who are concerned that their child may be affected by bullying at school. Bullying is unacceptable and parents, teachers and others working with children all share a responsibility for preventing it.

"Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood." - Helen Keller

About the Friendly Schools & Families Program

Schools throughout Australia and worldwide are increasingly recognising the need to address bullying, resilience, social skills and self-esteem. The Friendly Schools & Families Program is based on 6 years of rigorous scientific research with over 6000 school students, their parents and teachers. The aim of the Program is to help school communities prevent bullying. The Program includes a review of our school bullying policy and activities to prevent or reduce bullying, as well as strategies to help students cope with bullying and develop social skills and resiliency factors.

Some of the goals of the implementation of the Program include:

Providing all students opportunities to develop and practice social skills through classroom learning activities;
Creating within our schools a positive social environment which actively discourages bullying;
Modifying the school grounds and supervision during morning and lunch breaks to discourage bullying;
Encouraging all staff, students and parents to treat all school community members with respect and tolerance;
Implementing a clear and consistent approach to managing reported bullying incidents; and
Providing parents with resources and strategies to help communicate more effectively with their children about bullying.

For further information about the Friendly Schools & Families Research

Parents’ role in the Whole-school Program to reduce bullying in schools

Friendly Schools research has demonstrated that efforts to change attitudes and behaviour of students are more likely to be successful if parents are actively involved and feel a sense of shared ownership of the process.

How can parents support the Friendly School?

Get to know your school’s bullying policy and discuss it with your child.
Maintain regular contact with your child’s teachers.
Try to attend school functions, for example, assemblies and/or help out on the class parent roster to demonstrate your support for your child and the school.
Read the school newsletter and discuss items of interest with your child.
Model a positive attitude towards school and encourage your child to see the positive aspects of school life.
If there is a problem with your child at school, try to work together with the school to overcome the problem. This shows a committed partnership between parents and the school to work towards positive solutions.