We are committed to ensuring a safe and happy environment for your child. Whole-school approaches to prevent and respond to bullying and support a caring, respectful teaching and learning community are at the core of our daily practice.
Understanding bullying
Bullying has three key features. It:
- involves a misuse of power in a relationship.
- is ongoing and repeated.
- involves behaviours that can cause harm.
Bullying can be physical, verbal, or social. Bullying can be easy to see (overt), or hidden (covert), such as spreading rumours about another person or excluding them.
Bullying can also happen online using technology such as the internet or mobile devices. This is known as online bullying or cyberbullying.
A person can be bullied about many different things such as how they look, sound or speak; their background, religion, race or culture including Aboriginality; having a disability; their sex; because they are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or intersex (LGBTI); their size or body shape or any other ways they may be different. Some students are bullied about their academic or sporting achievements or hobbies.
Bullying can be illegal if it involves behaviours that include physical violence, threats of violence, damaging property, or stalking.
What bullying is not
A single incident or disagreement between peers is not bullying. However, these behaviours may lead to bullying and should be resolved.
Muirfield's Anti-bullying Plan
In line with the requirement that all NSW government schools are required to have an Anti-bullying Plan, Muirfield's Anti-Bullying Plan (pdf 258KB) outlines the wellbeing and positive strategies to prevent and protect students against bullying.
Reporting incidents
Students can report incidents to any staff member. Students can access support from their Year Advisor, the School Counsellor, a Deputy Principal, the School Chaplain, the Anti-Racism Officer, Supervisor of Girls or a trusted teacher. The NSW anti-bullying website supports school staff, parents and carers, volunteers and contracted staff, and students to discourage, prevent, identify, and respond effectively to student bullying behaviour, where it does occur.