BULLYING
Very touchy subject but it is I feel important and remember your thoughts are
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Jordanstown was always a potential hotspot for bullying. It was certainly rife
in my days under all sorts of guises for all sorts of reasons. A lot of what
was then regarded as "normal playground behaviour" is now regarded as the more
serious topic of Bullying. There are a number of reasons why Jordanstown was
risky listed below:
Multiple disabilities in some pupils.
Mixture of age groups.
Communication skills lacking.
Parental molly coddling.
Mixed abilities and intellect made to exist together.
Having to cope away from home - especially Boarders.
There are also more than one type of bullying
PUPILS
As I say a lot of the problems regarded as bullying were thought of as typical
behaviour. Unfortunately this resulted often in the victim being told by staff
to "get on with it and stop crying..". All too often the case. I have witnessed
and sometimes suffered the "gang" mentality where a number of pupils literally
gang up on an individual and life becomes Hell for the poor victim. Often the
problems were not spotted by staff.
TEACHERS
Very serious and from what I hear this is virtually stopped. In the early days
some staff were allowed to punish but at times this went beyond the acceptable.
I have witnessed teachers smacking pupils until they call them "Sir". I have
also witnessed occasions where a pupil was smacked in the face by staff. One
occasion the teacher was not in a position to see how close the girl was that
was being hit. Deplorable behaviour. I can tell you that the staff involved
in these events are no longer employed at the scholl.
PUPIL BULLYING STAFF
Fortunately I can say that this has been a very rare event. I recall one particular
pupil whose behaviour to staff was unacceptable.
Unfortunately I have to report that having spoken to some "newer" pupils to
the school there is little evidence that bullying has stopped. I have had stories
of pupil to pupil bullying that go unnoticed or not acted upon.
By law the school must have a "bullying policy" available to all.
Perhaps the severe cutback in pupil intake resulting in much smaller classes
will eventually stamp out this horrible behaviour but it is rife in every school
and is now and will be very difficult to stamp out. Unfortunately schools have
to become aware that this is a problem everywhere!
Childline 0800 1111
This page was last updated on
Thursday June 9, 2005
