Dear Parents and Carers,

5 Ways of Being

At St Benedict’s, our actions are based on Catholic beliefs and values and in the spirit of St Benedict we welcome all. Our greatest belief is that we all are 'made in the image and likeness of God' (Genesis 1:27) and so each young person brings their own unique expression of life that we share in the responsibility to nurture and grow. To do this our community strives to offer a safe and caring learning environment and provide the opportunities and challenges that assist all students to create a positive future for themselves and their community.

At St Benedict’s we use our 5 Ways of Being as a guide for our behaviour – both social and learning. It makes expectations clear to students and the community and reinforces how we are striving to live, learn and work together.

Teachers explicitly teach how we can demonstrate these behaviours and then when students are noticed strongly demonstrating these, they can be awarded a ‘bee token’ in recognition of their efforts. Students collect these bee tokens and as they collect 10, 25 and 50, they are awarded special certificates as recognition. On achieving 50 bee tokens, students also receive an invitation to a special recess or lunch with the Principal.

Whilst we are always striving for and promoting positive behaviour at St Benedict’s, we recognise that there are times when some student behaviour does not reflect our 5 Ways of Being. At times we need to recognise that negative behaviour or bullying is occurring in our school between students.

It is important to understand what bullying is. It involves three critical components:

• A repeated pattern - This can be between individuals and/or groups.
• It can be obvious (physical, verbal) or hidden (exclusion, intimidation). It is not always obvious and can often be unacknowledged by adults.
• Not all conflict and aggression is bullying. Sometimes the conflict is between equals, and this is not bullying.

Regardless of the context, all conflict is responded to. Our Anti-bullying Policy outlines how we respond to any bullying that may occur. Early intervention is the key for us. Where bullying is happening, we need to know and address it before more serious habits of behaviour form and we need to determine the best form of response for the situation.

Bullying is complex and challenging to deal with. Short term, quick fix solutions like punishment don’t assist to break the cycle of the bully-victim social relationship. Our response will always require some analysis – identifying when and where it occurs and rectifying any power imbalance; relationship-focused – building positive relationships and learning successful social strategies for both bully and victim; and open communication – students, parents and staff are all engaged openly in working towards a positive and optimistic future.

At St Benedict’s we stand together against any form of bullying. If you would like to be a little clearer about what bullying is and how you can help your child to respond to bullying then I encourage you to visit www.bullyingnoway.gov.au. There are some outstanding resources. In particular I encourage you to read "What is bullying"?

God Bless,

Alana Quirk

Principal (Acting)