New School Procedures to Prevent Bullying Published

Posted by SchoolDays Newshound, on 29/08/2024. New School Procedures to Prevent Bullying Published

Tags: Teachers

The Minister of Education last June launched the ‘Bí Cineálta procedures to prevent and address bullying behaviour for primary, post-primary and special schools'. These new procedures have now been published and the Anti-Bullying Procedures for Primary and Post-Primary Schools 2013 have been replaced by the Bí Cineálta Procedures to Prevent and Address Bullying Behaviour for Primary and Post-Primary Schools.

These procedures apply to all recognised primary and post-primary schools and to centres for education, as defined in the Education Act 1998, which are attended by students under the age of 18 years. The requirements of the procedures come into effect from the start of the 2025/2026 school year and boards of management must develop its Bí Cineálta policy during the 2024/2025 school year.

An overview of the key areas of change from the Anti-bullying Procedures for Primary and Post-Primary Schools 2013 is outlined in Appendix G of the Bí Cineálta Procedures to Prevent and Address Bullying Behaviour for Primary and Post-Primary Schools. These changes include the following:

a) Updated definition of bullying behaviour based on Cineáltas: Action Plan on Bullying (2022)

b) Increased focus on a partnership approach to preventing and addressing bullying behaviour:

schools must collaborate with their whole school community which includes their board of management, staff, students and their parents to develop their Bí Cineálta policy

every school must develop a student-friendly version of its Bí Cineálta policy and display it where students and the school community can see it

the school’s Bí Cineálta policy must be reviewed in collaboration with their whole school community once each calendar year or sooner if required

schools must consult with the students involved in bullying behaviour and their parents to decide the actions that will be taken and when determining if bullying behaviour has ceased

c) Increased oversight:

all incidents of bullying behaviour must be recorded

the school principal is required to provide a bullying behaviour update at each ordinary board of management meeting

the purpose of the principal’s update is to inform discussion at board level regarding the overall effectiveness of the school’s Bí Cineálta policy

d) New template documents:

the procedures include templates that schools must use for developing their Bí Cineálta policy and the annual review of their policy

the procedures also include a template that can be used as a basis for the student-friendly Bí Cineálta policy, as well as guides that can be used to address bullying behaviour, and to assist principals in providing the bullying behaviour update to the board of management.

The full procedures are published on the Departments websie and can be access HERE