School staff can use the following tools and resources to prevent and respond to bullying in South Australian schools. This includes:

• professional development around recognising and responding to bullying
• bullying and cyberbullying policy and procedures
• support around physical environments to prevent bullying.

These resources are available to:

• Department for Education schools
• Catholic Education South Australia
• Association of Independent Schools of South Australia.

Training to recognise and respond to bullying behaviour

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

This training 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.

Respond effectively to bullying – videos and practice guidance

The support group method or the method of shared concern are effective interventions that educators can use to resolve and prevent future bullying.

A series of videos and accompanying practice guidance provide step-by-step support to staff using these interventions. See bullying prevention intervention and support training for teachers and school staff.

Responding to cyberbullying and online safety incidents – guidelines

Schools can use the responding to online safety incidents in South Australian schools guidelines (PDF 455 KB) to respond to incidents involving children and young people.

These guidelines will help schools:

• respond consistently and proportionally to online behaviours of concern
• recognise which online incidents need to be escalated for additional supports
• identify which online incidents need cross sector and interagency coordination.

Changing the physical environment to reduce bullying

The physical school environment can impact the frequency of bullying. Design changes to reduce bullying might involve:

• increasing opportunities for social interaction in the yard
• showcasing school values
• eliminating blind spots in the physical environment.

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

• reduce unsafe behaviours
• increase positive behaviours.

2025 safe spaces funding for government schools

To celebrate the 2025 Bullying No Way: National week of action, South Australian government schools were invited to apply for up to $15,000 for projects that improve or create safe spaces in schools. A safe space, or protective physical environment, is a setting which both reduces unsafe behaviours and increases positive behaviours.

Applications for this funding has closed. Schools will be advised on the outcome of their application in term 4 week 1.

Examples of projects funded in 2024

Examples of how schools used their funding in 2024 include:

• a Yarning Circle where students are supported by school staff to have respectful conversations. It will also operate as an outdoor classroom where students will learn about Aboriginal culture and history from visiting Aboriginal Elders
• a new peer-to-peer play space in a special options site. Special options and mainstream students can develop peer to peer connections with the support of school staff
• the creation of a basketball area where students can engage in physical activity in a structured and supervised setting.

Read about how other schools used their 2024 safe space funding.

• Bridgewater Primary School – The Bridgey Retreat (PDF 487 KB)
• Edwardstown Primary School – Harmony Hubs (PDF 366 KB)

Resources for government schools

These resources are only accessible by department staff.

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

School leaders can create custom bullying prevention policy and plans with the online policy tool for schools (staff login required).

Schools can:

• use evidence-based strategies to plan how your school will prevent and reduce bullying
• use the staff survey to decide which strategies work best for your school
• create and monitor actions.

School leaders can use the bullying prevention induction checklist (DOCX 384 KB) to make sure all staff have current knowledge and expertise to prevent and respond to bullying.

Bullying prevention strategy

The state government released a statewide bullying prevention strategy (PDF 5.3MB) 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.

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.

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.

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 image-based abuse that happens to children and young people. 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.