What bullying is

Bullying can be verbal, physical or involve harming people's reputation or relationships. It can happen in person or online.

Bullying is a deliberately harmful behaviour directed at a person or group. It can be visible but often takes place out of sight. It involves a power imbalance and is usually repeated over time. It is different to ākonga | students having a one-off argument, fight, or causing harm unintentionally.

Talk to your school

Schools and kura are responsible for providing a safe and bullying-free learning environment for all students. This includes preventing and responding to bullying.

Talk to the school if you have concerns about bullying. This could be your child's classroom teacher or someone like a dean or the school principal. Tell them what you have heard from your child. You could also ask:

1. What procedures are there for preventing and responding to bullying behaviour?
2. What support is available for students who are involved in bullying?
3. Who should my whānau | family or child report bullying to?
4. Is there a plan in place to prevent this from happening again?
5. How could you as the parent or caregiver help?

Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying usually goes in hand with in-person bullying. Cyberbullying is bullying with the use of digital technologies like social media.

Some examples of cyberbullying include creating false online profiles, posting abusive comments or embarrassing pictures or videos, and sending harmful text messages. It's likely this behaviour is happening both at school and outside of school grounds.

Netsafe's website offers help to prevent cyberbullying. Netsafe can also help with reporting abuse online and bullying on mobile phones.

Netsafe website

What to do if you need more support

You can write to the school board if you are unhappy with how the school is managing the bullying problem. You should explain the problem and what you want the board to do.

School boards are legally required to provide a safe environment for students. They will discuss your complaint at a board meeting. You may ask to attend, and you can also ask to speak at the meeting.

More ways to get help

Contact your regional Ministry of Education office. They can help you work with your school if you haven't been able to resolve the issue.

Regional offices

If you are still unhappy, you can make a formal complaint through the Office of the Ombudsman.

Get help (for the public) – Office of the Ombudsman

Report bullying to the police

Bullying can be serious. You can report bullying to the police if it involves:

• physical or sexual assaults or threats
• use of a weapon
• harassment.