Bullying prevention and response resources

Policies and guidelines

Local bullying prevention policy for government schools

All government schools must have a local bullying prevention policy (staff login required).

Behaviour support policy

Bullying is a behaviour that is covered by the behaviour support policy (PDF 603 KB) . The behaviour support policy explains how staff can support safe and positive behaviour in education and care services.

Leaders and staff must follow the behaviour support policy when responding to bullying. Actions to prevent and respond to bullying include:

modelling and promoting positive behaviour
explicitly teaching respectful behaviours and expectations about bullying
intervening in specific incidents of reported or observed bullying
working with families, service providers and the community to address bullying
providing visible and consistent responses to bullying that foster trust and confidence
repairing and restoring relationships that have been harmed by bullying when it has been assessed that it is emotionally and physically safe and in the best interests of everyone involved
establishing safety and wellbeing for people involved in bullying incidents and others who have been impacted.

The behaviour support policy (PDF 603 KB) applies to bullying and cyberbullying that happens off-site or out of hours where there is a reasonable connection between the behaviour and the school. For example:

behaviours that happen on the way to and from school
incidents where children and young people are wearing the school uniform or representing the school
when children and young people are in the care and supervision of staff.

Guideline for responding to online safety incidents, including cyberbullying

Schools should use the responding to online safety incidents in South Australian schools guideline to respond to incidents involving children and young people.

These guidelines will help schools:

respond to online safety incidents effectively
support the safety and wellbeing of children and young people involved
escalate serious incidents appropriately, including incidents that require coordination across sectors and agencies.

Online risks include:

cyber bullying
image-based abuse, such as deepfakes, sextortion or the non-consensual sharing of intimate images
illegal and restricted content, such as children being exposed to pornography, child exploitation material or violence.

Changing the physical environment

The physical school environment can impact the frequency of bullying.

Use our A3 protective physical environments placemat (PDF 794 KB) to help:

reduce unsafe behaviours
increase positive behaviours.

Online training for educators

Log in to plink to access the bullying prevention – effective practices for recognising and responding to bullying behaviour.

These 6 professional learning modules supports all school staff to broaden their knowledge and skills.

You can learn how to:

support positive and respectful behaviour
create safe and inclusive school environments
identify bullying behaviour
use effective practices to address behaviour concerns when they happen.

Bullying prevention lessons

Log in to plink to access bullying prevention lessons – South Australian laws about bullying, cyberbullying and online safety.

These lessons with accompanying resources are targeted at educators who teach students in years 4 to 12.

The lessons cover topics like:

bullying
cyberbullying
bullying and sexual harassment
abusive photos and videos
sex and sexting.

Videos with practice guidance

Building strong and positive relationships

A series of videos and accompanying practice guidance provide step-by-step support to staff for building strong and positive relationships and helping children and young people to help each other.

The approach and methods include:

co-LATE model
Support group method
Method of shared concern

See methods to support bullying prevention.

Students at high risk of bullying

Preventing and reducing bullying for children and young people at highest risk practice guidance (PDF 84 KB) helps educators to create supportive environments for children and young people in these highest risk groups:

children and young people with disabilities
children and young people in care
Aboriginal children
culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds
gender diverse, intersex and sexually diverse.

Diversity and inclusion – video and practice guidance

The video aims to:

promote respectful behaviours with both primary and secondary students
respond to bullying incidents.

You can also use the diversity and inclusion – guidance for teachers (PDF 96 KB) .

The guide has conversation starters for discussing diversity with children and young people.

Diversity and inclusion video transcript

(calm music)

How would I describe myself?

I am a caring person.

I like to think that I'm funny. (laughs)

Energetic, I don't know.

Happy.

Small.

Shy.

Well, what makes me me?

The things that have shaped who I am today is experiences.

My friends and family.

Probably my background or culture that I'm from.

Diversity means

Well, it can mean lots of different things.

Religions.

Disability.

Gender.

Economic backgrounds.

Nationality.

Sexuality as well.

All of us are different in our own ways.

I've got over 10 different backgrounds and even though I have dealt with discrimination, it's still something that I have always been proud to be.

A stereotype is something that society has moulded us into thinking is correct.

It's a generalisation based off someone's characters that are unrelated.

They will put that thing that that person said against the whole culture, instead of just being that one person.

I don't think most people mean to do it or have any malicious intent.

I mean, if everyone was the same and everyone loved the same thing or just had the same personality that would be boring. 'Cause I mean, in this school you get to meet so many different people.

Inclusion is important because you should make everyone feel comfortable and everyone needs to feel loved and supported.

I've had times where I feel really lonely and I just don't know who to turn to. There's all these mixed emotions, is it my fault? Is it their fault? Should I be angry at them or should I be angry at myself?

When you're included, it feels like you are finally accepted for who you are and who you were born as.

I didn't know anyone, it was nice to have someone to talk to.

I think it just makes me feel like I'm part of this community and this school.

I have good friends, I have a good environment around me and I smile.

We can make everyone feel included.

By actually talking to them or getting to know them before you make a judgement on them.

There's so many things that you can just say that will make that person feel included.

Maybe just keep an eye out.

Just go up to them and say hi, even if that just makes their day.

If it's just a little smile at someone.

No matter how you look, what you believe or what things you've gone through in your life, you're just as great as everyone else.

(calm music)

End of transcript.

Racist bullying – video and practice guidance

The video aims to:

promote respectful behaviours with both primary and secondary students
respond to an incident of racist bullying.

You can also use the racist bullying – guidance for teachers (PDF 56 KB) .

The guide has conversation starters to help lead discussions about:

racism
stereotypes and biases
cultural diversity.

Racist bullying video transcript

Alexa: My name’s Alexa.

Kiera: Kiera

Seth: Seth

Isis: My name is Isis.

Unnamed child 1: I believe that bullying

Seth: Is when somebody knows that what they’re doing is upsetting or damaging to you.

Isis: Using any power you have over someone in a negative way.

Kiera: It can be many different things. I mean, at the moment there’s a lot of social media bullying.

Isis: There’s also verbal.

Seth: There’s physical bullying.

Unnamed child 1: Mental bullying.

Unnamed child 2: Gaslighting, that kind of stuff.

Isis: Because of, like, what my name is brought up with on the news about like terrorist attacks, that’s usually the main thing, about… me.

Alexa: The first time I wore my hair like this, lots of people were like looking at me.

Kiera: Because I was Greek, I got teased coz I was different from everyone else.

Alexa: They said stuff like mushroom head, because it’s kind of like, goes around like that.

Seth: Racism is

Isis: Taking someone of a different race or religion and discriminating them for it.

Alexa: I felt kind of upset, like I didn’t want to wear my hair like this anymore, like I should just wear it like everyone else.

Kiera: I thought I was small and insignificant, and that I didn’t have the right to sit with anyone else coz I was different.

Seth: I think mostly people bully other people because

Isis: Their own insecurities, it could be because they feel threatened by someone else.

Alexa: If they just knew what, like, how beautiful every culture is, then they would probably stop being racist towards other people.

Kiera: Just stop, I mean what made you do that.

Unnamed child 2: You need to realise that it’s actually hurting people.

Alexa: You can’t change the colour of your skin, you can’t change like the texture of your hair.

Seth: It is never okay to bully someone.

Isis: Just never turn a blind eye to someone being teased or bullied, because even if it’s just like, one nasty little comment, they don’t know how long it’s being going on for or how deeply it can hurt someone.

Unnamed child 2: Try to go up to them and talk to them. I would try and stick up for them.

Kiera: First I would probably say go to a friend, and, coz then you’ll have someone to support you. Go to a teacher and a principal, or like a supervisor.

Isis: Just talk to people about it, share what you’re feeling, because there are always people who can support you and help you.

End of transcript.

Resources for educators to work with parents

Schools and teachers can use this information to engage with parents and carers to prevent and reduce bullying.

Practice guidance for educators to work with parents

Working with parents to prevent and respond to bullying practice guidance (PDF 70 KB) gives educators:

an effective process on how to manage interactions with parents and carers around bullying incidents
specific skills that will help navigate difficult conversations with empathy
ways to de-escalate emotionally charged conversations and gently shift interactions in a more proactive direction.

Parent presentation about bullying prevention and response

Schools can use the bullying prevention and response presentation (PPTX 43 MB) to host an information evening with parents or carers to discuss:

what is bullying?
common bullying myths
bullying prevention policy and curriculum
how do I know if my child may be experiencing bullying?
what parents can do
how the school responds to bullying.

Cyberbullying guides to share with parents and carers

Schools can email or print and give the below guides to parents and carers to help them support their children to be safe and responsible users of digital technology.

Online safety guides to share with parents and carers

Schools can email or print and give the below guides to parents and carers to help them support their children to be safe and responsible users of digital technology.

Help and support

External agency supports

Bullying No Way

Bullying No Way has bullying and bullying prevention advice for children and young people, their families and teaching resources for educators.

Bullying No Way: National week of action

Bullying No Way: National week of action supports schools and their communities to find practical and lasting solutions to bullying and violence. The event is held in the third week of August every year.

eSafety

The eSafety Commissioner (eSafety) is Australia’s national independent regulator for online safety. They offer advice, teaching resources and training to help parents, carers, schools and pre-schools.

eSafety can receive complaints about serious cyberbullying and other online harm . In response to serious reports, eSafety can request that the online site remove the offensive content.

ThinkUKnow

ThinkUKnow is an Australian Federal Police led program. It operates in partnership with state and territory police and industry partners. The program has information about online safety and child sexual exploitation.

Student Wellbeing Hub

The Student Wellbeing Hub is home of the Australian Student Wellbeing Framework. It’s an evidence-based tool that supports schools to become communities that promote safety, wellbeing and learning.

Where students and families can get help for bullying

Students or families of students who may be experiencing bullying at school should raise any concerns with the school.

If the parent or carer is not satisfied with the school’s response, they should contact the Customer Feedback Unit. Follow the steps on school and preschool complaints.

Counselling and support

Here’s a list of agencies who can provide students and their families support to respond to bullying.

Kids Helpline – 1800 55 1800
Headspace – 1800 650 890
Lifeline – 13 11 14
Parent Helpline – 1300 364 100

Removal of harmful online content

The eSafety Commissioner has a complaint scheme for children and young people experiencing serious cyber-bullying and other online harm.

Children, young people and their families can report harmful content to eSafety. The eSafety Commissioner can investigate complaints and help have this harmful content removed from online platforms.

In some cases, they must first report the content to the online platform before eSafety can take action.

Legal advice

Students and their families can seek legal support if needed:

Legal Services Commission of South Australia – 1300 366 424
Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement – 1800 643 222
Youth Law Australia

Bullying that may be a criminal offence

If the family believes the bullying may be a criminal offence they can:

report the matter to police
contact the South Australia Police on 000 if they feel in immediate danger
request police attendance – call 131 444.

Bullying prevention strategy

The State Government released a statewide bullying prevention strategy (PDF 5 MB) that focused on strengthening responses to children’s bullying both inside and outside the school gates.

The Department for Education, Catholic and independent school sectors, government departments and non-government organisations worked together to form the strategy.

The strategy’s community approach to bullying reflects community feedback, bullying prevention research and best practice.

Initiatives from the strategy were implemented between 2019 and 2022.

2024 key achievements and evaluation reports

The first stage of the evaluation key achievements report (PDF 2 MB) was released in January 2024. It highlights the work across the 5 principles and captures initial measures for individual initiatives.

The final evaluation report (PDF 11 MB) was released in August 2024. It reviewed the contribution of the Strategy to:

increasing staff awareness
understanding and confidence in responding to bullying behaviours
increasing student connectedness and belonging at school
reducing incidents of bullying.

Safe and supportive learning environments plan of action 2024-2026

The Department for Education will continue work regarding approaches to bullying response and prevention with the recently released safe and supportive learning environments – plan of action. (PDF 187 KB)