Prevention of Harassment and Bullying Policy
Version: August 2025
Purpose
- Foster a safe, caring, and orderly school environment
- Promote students’ physical safety, social connectedness, and inclusiveness
- Describe acceptable and unacceptable behaviour
- Protect students from all forms of bullying, regardless of their gender, race, culture, religion, sexual orientation, or gender identity
Prevention of Harassment and Bullying and the CHS Student Code of Conduct
The “acceptable behaviour” outlined in the Crofton House School Student Code of Conduct is the foundation for how CHS maintains a safe, caring and orderly environment. The four behaviours, harassment, intimidation, bullying, and violent behaviour, described in this policy are unacceptable according to the Code of Conduct. This policy gives students a clearer understanding of what is meant when the terms describing these behaviours are used. Also, this policy helps students to understand the difference between bullying, conflict and mean behaviour. All would be considered “unacceptable” in the Code of Conduct; however, bullying would be treated as more serious than conflict or meanness.
The Policy
Students who commit acts of harassment, intimidation, bullying, cyberbullying or violent behaviour will be subject to disciplinary action up to and including suspension or expulsion from school. Students disciplined for unacceptable behaviour are encouraged to take steps in a guided restorative framework to “put right” or repair the damage caused by their actions or behaviour. All community members are responsible for monitoring, reporting, and addressing harassment, intimidation, and bullying. The School’s commitment is to take all reasonable steps to prevent retaliation by a person against a student who has made a complaint of a breach of the policy. Students are encouraged to be courageous and speak up when they observe any behaviour that negatively impacts a safe, caring, and orderly school environment.
The Importance of Speaking Up
Crofton House School is committed to providing a safe, caring, and orderly school environment that is respectful of everyone. The school teaches social and executive functioning skills (i.e., self-regulation) to serve its students throughout their lives.
If a student has been harassed, intimidated, or bullied or has witnessed such behaviour, she needs to confide in an adult at the School. It is part of her responsibility as a student at Crofton House School.
If the School is not aware of an incident, it cannot act. A student is not tattling by contacting an adult; she is, in fact, upholding CHS’s core values and demonstrating courage by appropriately standing up for herself. No one has the right to harass, intimidate or bully another person. It takes courage to be an upstander and to stop such behaviour maturely and responsibly.
Unacceptable Behaviours
Within this policy, there are four types of behaviour which, if found to be taking place, will be addressed as a disciplinary issue:
- Harassment: Any unwelcome or unwanted act or comment that is hurtful, degrading, humiliating, or offensive to another person
- Intimidation: The act of instilling fear in someone as a means of controlling that person
- Bullying: A pattern of repeated aggressive behaviour with negative intent directed from one person to another where there is a power imbalance. Bullying can take many forms: verbal, physical, social, or electronic (cyberbullying). It can focus on disability, sexual orientation, sexuality, gender identity, race, ethnicity, religion, or other issues.
- Violent behaviours: Any behaviour by an individual that threatens, harms or injures the individual or others or destroys property.
An Important Distinction Between Conflict, Mean Behaviour and Bullying
It’s important to know the difference between bullying and single acts of aggression or conflict. Not all mean or rude behaviour or conflict is bullying.
Understanding the difference helps when it comes to knowing how to intervene.
Conflict is
A disagreement or difference between peers who have equal power
Conflict is a normal part of child development, including the occasional display of mean or rude behaviour. Children can do unkind things to others without intending to hurt them or derive any pleasure from doing so. Conflict can happen between peers who socialize together and have equal power (size, age, social status). They are equally upset by the conflict and are interested in working toward a restorative resolution, in some cases with the support of an adult.
Conflict would be considered bullying if a student continued an intentional campaign of blame against another. This could include several actions such as name-calling, taunting, or excluding.
Mean behaviour is
Saying or doing something on purpose to hurt someone without consistency
Mean behaviour aims to hurt someone. This includes making fun of someone, using a hurtful name, physically pushing or shoving, taking someone’s belongings, or deliberately excluding someone. Usually, mean things are said impulsively and then often regretted later. Adults responding quickly and firmly can prevent the escalation of these behaviours to bullying.
Bullying is
A persistent pattern of unwelcome or aggressive behaviour that hurts others physically and/or emotionally.
For a situation to be considered a bullying incident, three indicators are usually present:
- Power – individuals who bully acquire their power through physical size and strength, by status within the peer group, and by recruiting the support of the group
- Frequency – bullying is not a random act. It is this factor that brings about the anticipatory terror in the mind of the child being bullied that can be so detrimental and have the most debilitating long-term effects
- Intent to harm – individuals who bully generally do so with the intent to either physically or emotionally harm the other child
A person who shows bullying behaviour says or does something intentionally hurtful to others, and they keep doing it with no sense of regret or remorse – even when it’s obvious that they’ve hurt a person or when they’re asked to stop. Bullying behaviour requires adult intervention at all stages of investigation, intervention and follow-up.
Consequences of Harassment, Intimidation, Bullying, or Violent Behaviour
If a student witnesses harassment, intimidation, bullying, or violent behavior, or learns about such conduct through conversation or social media, they are encouraged to report it to a teacher or the Director of the School. The matter will be thoroughly investigated, and appropriate consequences will be determined.
The Crofton House School Student Code of Conduct outlines the procedures for reporting, investigating, documenting, and communicating incidents, as well as the possible sanctions for unacceptable behaviour. It also describes mitigating factors that will be considered during the investigation, including, but not limited to, a student’s age and maturity.