Every member of the NAPA family, be it staff, student, or parent, has the right to feel safe and free from any form of intimidation including physical, verbal, emotional or sexual.

NAPA respects the rights of each individual.

At NAPA we strive to help each other to recognise that any behaviour which intimidates another person is unacceptable.

Each member of our community has the responsibility to protect his/her own, as well as others’ rights against intimidation.

We will provide a safe, secure and supportive learning and social environment for all students.

WHAT CAN WE DO TO PREVENT BULLYING AT NAPA? 

As a community we will not allow cases of bullying to go unreported.
We will speak up for ourselves and for others.

This requires staff to:

• Be role models in word and action at all times.

• Be observant of signs of distress or suspected incidents of bullying.

• Make efforts to remove occasions for bullying.

• Take steps to help victims and remove sources of distress without placing the victim at further risk.

• Report suspected incidents to the appropriate staff member such as the Head of Schooling and Student Wellbeing or the Company Director.

This requires students to:

• Refuse to be involved in any bullying situations. if you are present when bullying occurs – if appropriate, take some form of preventative action and report the incident or suspected incident and help break down the code of secrecy. Be and upstander, not a bystander.

• If the students who are being bullied can have the courage to speak out, they may help to reduce pain for themselves and other potential victims.

This requires parents to:

• Watch for signs of distress in their child. For example, unwillingness to attend class, a pattern of headaches, missing equipment, requests for extra money, damaged clothes or physical injury.

• Advise your child to tell a staff member about the incident. If possible, and particularly with older students, allow them to report and deal with the problem themselves. They can gain much strength and confidence through taking the initiative and dealing with the problem without parental involvement.

• Inform NAPA immediately if bullying is suspected.

• Keep a written record (who, what, when, where, why, how).

• Do not encourage your child to retaliate.

• Communicate to your child that parental involvement, if necessary, will be appropriate for the situation.

PROCEDURE

A student who feels they are being intimidated, be it of a physical, verbal, emotional or sexual nature, is encouraged to approach:

• Their teacher

• The NAPA office manager

• The Head of Schooling and Student Wellbeing

• The Company Director

When an incident is reported, the teacher will investigate the complaint to the best of their ability at that time, speaking to other students involved, asking them to modify their behaviour. In the case of a significant incident, the complaint will be recorded and reported to the company director, who will proceed with the following steps:

Step 1:

Interview all parties involved. Determine the underlying problem and talk with the students about the consequences of their behaviour. This will see students deemed responsible for bullying or intimidating behaviours, placed on a Level One Bullying complaint. This is recorded, and if there is no reoccurrence, will not be revisited.

Step 2:

Further or more serious bullying will result in parents being notified and students being placed on a Level 2 Bulling complaint.

Step 3:

Further or more serious bullying will be referred to the Company Director and may result in cancellation of enrolment.

High-level cases will move directly to Step 3.

PREVENTION

Prevention strategies include:

• Open and ongoing conversations with students about respect and the rights of others to feel safe at NAPA.

• Active supervison of students in classes.

• All staff, parents and volunteers modelling appropriate behaviour and positive interaction.

• Promoting anti-bullying strategies involving whole school community

INTERVENTION

Intervention strategies and procedures would include:

• Striving for early intervention, to prevent smaller issues becoming bigger ones.

• Clear reporting and referral procedures.

• Monitoring and evaluation of the anti-bullying program

RESTORATION OF WELL BEING

Supporting both all students involved, on all sides of incidents, with therapeutic interventions that involves a no-blame approach, working towards, restoration of relationships so that we can all return to a happy and safe studio environment.