Phase 3 - Resolution
Student Behavior Promise Form:
This form is designed to be used at two levels of the process.
1. Teacher and Student Signatures Only
At this level, this form is used by the Student Support Center when the perpetrators are ready to be offered a resolution of the whole problem/situation. They are asked to sign a solemn formal written promise, which will be countersigned by the team-member, committing them to treating the targeted student fairly and respectfully in future. The promise form used is partly a standard form that states their right and the right of all others to be treated with fairness, equality and respect. It then goes on: "I therefore promise that in future I will treat all my fellow-students fairly, equally and respectfully despite our differences and whether I like them or not. In particular . . ." to which the team-member adds, in block letter handwriting, in the presence of the perpetrator, "I will always treat N. (the targeted student's name) fairly and respectfully." This is then signed and dated by the team-member and offered to the perpetrator to sign. The good news is that when they sign this, in the context of all the awareness raising and the information gathering that has gone before, in most cases this works - permanently and they cause no more problems for the targeted student.
2. Teacher, Student and Parent Signatures
At this level, the place for a parent's signature is utilized in addition to those of the teacher and student. This indicates that a parent has to be included in the process which could happen if:
(a) the bullying was of a particularly serious or violent nature,
(b) if the student was less than fully cooperative during the interview (e.g. trying to avoid blame or deny the facts) or
(c) if the student had previously bullied another student.
Students are told that any subsequent bullying behavior will be seen as a refusal to co-operate with the "no-blame" anti-bullying strategy and will surely lead to a normal serious school sanction like suspension from school.
“Join The Promise” Form:
This form is used by the Student Support Center after a Student Behavior Promise Form; particularly if the bullying incident involved more than one perpetrator, but some students did not admit to knowing about it in the original class survey. If this happens it may be because these other students had at times actively joined in or otherwise supported the bullying, a situation that may already have been alluded to in the original survey by students writing "everyone in the class" when asked to identify who was involved. This situation needs to be resolved because otherwise this bullying culture in the class group may simply lead to a continuation of the bullying with someone else taking a lead role.
This form gives all the members of the class together, in a "no-blame" environment, the opportunity to admit to either initiating the bullying or to joining in with it, to acknowledge that this was wrong and to commit to never starting it or joining in with it in future. The team-member should point out that it is now clear who was being bullied, treat this as an issue that everyone now knows about and have the targeted student's name entered in the space provided on the page. All students are then asked to complete the form honestly and make a promise never to be involved in the bullying again by writing "YES" in the relevant box. If that commitment is honored the completed forms need never appear again.
More students usually admit to joining in than to starting the bullying. More students usually admit to doing this "sometimes" rather than "often." However, it is the "YES" that matters, not the accuracy of admission. The students are all conscious that they all now know what was going on, that it was wrong, that it will not be allowed to continue and that they now have the opportunity to make a positive commitment and then move on with no penalty. In the "no-blame" environment there should be no negative impact on the targeted student from this exercise, particularly if the team-member mildly admonishes her/him for not reporting what was going on (whether they did or not) or for making light of it and thus allowing it to continue. It can be explained to all the other students that this probably made their behavior seem less serious at the time to them, but that now everyone is clear about how wrong it was so it must stop. Typically a significant number at this stage admit to being involved at some level in the bullying and all members of the class normally commit to never being involved in such activity again. In the process they are instituting a different culture in their class group - where it is O.K. not to be seen to bully the person. At the back of their minds, however, is awareness that a breach of this promise would be treated like a breach of an individual promise, with serious consequences for those involved.
Phase 1 - Establishing the Facts
Phase 2 - Interviewing
Phase 4 - Rehabilitation
This form is designed to be used at two levels of the process.
1. Teacher and Student Signatures Only
At this level, this form is used by the Student Support Center when the perpetrators are ready to be offered a resolution of the whole problem/situation. They are asked to sign a solemn formal written promise, which will be countersigned by the team-member, committing them to treating the targeted student fairly and respectfully in future. The promise form used is partly a standard form that states their right and the right of all others to be treated with fairness, equality and respect. It then goes on: "I therefore promise that in future I will treat all my fellow-students fairly, equally and respectfully despite our differences and whether I like them or not. In particular . . ." to which the team-member adds, in block letter handwriting, in the presence of the perpetrator, "I will always treat N. (the targeted student's name) fairly and respectfully." This is then signed and dated by the team-member and offered to the perpetrator to sign. The good news is that when they sign this, in the context of all the awareness raising and the information gathering that has gone before, in most cases this works - permanently and they cause no more problems for the targeted student.
2. Teacher, Student and Parent Signatures
At this level, the place for a parent's signature is utilized in addition to those of the teacher and student. This indicates that a parent has to be included in the process which could happen if:
(a) the bullying was of a particularly serious or violent nature,
(b) if the student was less than fully cooperative during the interview (e.g. trying to avoid blame or deny the facts) or
(c) if the student had previously bullied another student.
Students are told that any subsequent bullying behavior will be seen as a refusal to co-operate with the "no-blame" anti-bullying strategy and will surely lead to a normal serious school sanction like suspension from school.
“Join The Promise” Form:
This form is used by the Student Support Center after a Student Behavior Promise Form; particularly if the bullying incident involved more than one perpetrator, but some students did not admit to knowing about it in the original class survey. If this happens it may be because these other students had at times actively joined in or otherwise supported the bullying, a situation that may already have been alluded to in the original survey by students writing "everyone in the class" when asked to identify who was involved. This situation needs to be resolved because otherwise this bullying culture in the class group may simply lead to a continuation of the bullying with someone else taking a lead role.
This form gives all the members of the class together, in a "no-blame" environment, the opportunity to admit to either initiating the bullying or to joining in with it, to acknowledge that this was wrong and to commit to never starting it or joining in with it in future. The team-member should point out that it is now clear who was being bullied, treat this as an issue that everyone now knows about and have the targeted student's name entered in the space provided on the page. All students are then asked to complete the form honestly and make a promise never to be involved in the bullying again by writing "YES" in the relevant box. If that commitment is honored the completed forms need never appear again.
More students usually admit to joining in than to starting the bullying. More students usually admit to doing this "sometimes" rather than "often." However, it is the "YES" that matters, not the accuracy of admission. The students are all conscious that they all now know what was going on, that it was wrong, that it will not be allowed to continue and that they now have the opportunity to make a positive commitment and then move on with no penalty. In the "no-blame" environment there should be no negative impact on the targeted student from this exercise, particularly if the team-member mildly admonishes her/him for not reporting what was going on (whether they did or not) or for making light of it and thus allowing it to continue. It can be explained to all the other students that this probably made their behavior seem less serious at the time to them, but that now everyone is clear about how wrong it was so it must stop. Typically a significant number at this stage admit to being involved at some level in the bullying and all members of the class normally commit to never being involved in such activity again. In the process they are instituting a different culture in their class group - where it is O.K. not to be seen to bully the person. At the back of their minds, however, is awareness that a breach of this promise would be treated like a breach of an individual promise, with serious consequences for those involved.
Phase 1 - Establishing the Facts
Phase 2 - Interviewing
Phase 4 - Rehabilitation