Anti-bullying campaign gathers momentum

A NORTHSIDE teacher is working with the father of a girl who took her own life due to bullying to introduce a mandatory Safe School programme to tackle the issue.

Siobhan McVeigh, a teacher at St David’s CBS in Artane, is part of the National Anti Bullying Coalition (NABC) who will meet with Minister for Education Ruairi Quinn this Thursday, May 17, to discuss the problem of bullying and how it can be addressed.

The NABC was set up in March 2011 and is working towards the implementation of the programme, a move it believes will result in a radical reform of classroom learning and an overall better education experience for both teachers and children.

The NABC ambassador is Jeremy Prince, father of bullied teenager Phoebe Prince, who died through suicide after vicious and persistent bullying by her classmates in America.

A candlelit ceremony will take place outside the Minister’s office on Marlborough Street at 12noon in memory of Phoebe and all those who have died as a result of bullying.

According to Ms McVeigh, bullying, which is common and all too often accepted in society, needs to be tackled from the roots up.

“I’ve seen bullying at all levels and in all walks of life,

? she told Northside People.

“It can take any form from aggressive and intimidating behaviour to kids saying they’re only slagging each other.

“I think that the more people who stop and don’t by-stand the less likely it is to continue.

“We have a duty as educators to teach kids what is bullying, whether they realise or mean it or not.

?

Bullying is changing with the times and with technology which now means that victims have no let up, according to Ms McVeigh.

“Decades ago you could get away from school bullying when you finished school each day but nowadays there’s absolutely no safe haven,

? she stated.

“Cyber bullying has taken over so kids are getting it in school, on Facebook or through texts and phonecalls.

“We’ve seen with statistics that bullying will only get worse and not better and the National Anti Bullying Coalition (NABC) believes that this is why there needs to be a mandatory Safe School programme developed and introduced.

?

Monica Monahan, president of the NABC, believes the key to the Safe Schools programme is a no-blame approach.

“Too often the situation between schools and parents is one of

‘them and us’,

? she stated.

“In our current system we tend to wait for bullying to occur before we try to deal with it.

“Our programme aims to strip back to educating children from a very young age as to what is appropriate behaviour and, therefore, to change the culture in schools so that bullying behaviour is less likely to occur.

?

According to a recent Government report,

‘Growing Up In Ireland’, 40 per cent of nine-year-olds have been bullied in the past year.

Further to this, a UNICEF Ireland study –

‘Changing The Future: Experiencing Adolescence In Ireland’ – found that a shocking 55 per cent of teenagers in Ireland experience bullying.