1. Statement proclaiming the right of all children and youth to a caring, respectful, and safe school environment:

Mossbank School students have the right to a caring, respectful, and safe school environment that is free from all forms of bullying. As a staff, we will work collaboratively and diligently to prevent bullying by teaching appropriate behaviours and promoting respectful relationships, as well as supporting student who have been victims of bullying.

2. A definition of bullying:

Bullying is a relationship issue where one person or group repeatedly uses power and aggression to control or intentionally hurt, harm or intimidate another person or group. It is often based on another person’s appearance, abilities, culture, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity. Bullying can take many forms: physical, emotional, verbal, psychological or social. It can occur in person or through electronic communication.

Bullies will often show no empathy, blame others for their actions, and/or threaten further aggression.

3. A statement prohibiting bullying:

Mossbank School and the Prairie South School Division (PSSD) believe that bullying is a problem that adversely affects students’ learning and well-being, and therefore, will not be tolerated.

4. Roles and responsibilities of the Board of Education, Educators, Parents, Students, School Community Council and Community Members for preventing and reducing bullying:

Mossbank School Staff and Students, along with the Parents, School Community Council and Community Members share in the responsibility of creating and promoting a caring, respectful, and safe school environment where bullying is prevented.

5. A school process outlining the steps to be followed when responding to instances of bullying:

To begin, the in-school administration will investigate and document all alleged bullying.  Classroom teachers of the involved student(s) will be informed of the incident and will help by monitoring future interactions of the students. There will also be interviews with the alleged bully(ies), the victim(s) and bystander(s) to reaffirm appropriate behaviours and offer informal and/or formal counselling.

When it has been deemed that bullying has occurred, the following steps will take place:

1. a) At an initial incident of bullying, the in-school administration will meet with the offending student(s) to discuss the incident, reaffirm appropriate behaviour, and send a clear message that bullying will not be tolerated.
2. b) Offending student(s) involved in a second incident will meet with the in-school administration and their parent(s) to discuss the issue. Further, the student(s) will be subject to an increased level of educational intervention and may involve student counselling.
3. c) Offending student(s) involved in a third incident will be alternately placed for an appropriate amount of time and will again meet with the in-school administration and their parent(s). The purpose of this meeting will be to formalize an action plan for improvement, which will be overseen by the in-school administration and will involve mandatory counselling.
4. d) Offending student(s) involved in a fourth incident and beyond will be subject to out of school suspensions and/or expulsion as per Prairie South School Division Policy No. 409 in consultation with the School’s Superintendent.

6. An action plan ensuring regular review and evaluation of the Bullying Prevention Policy and related practices:

Mossbank School, of the Prairie South School Division, will involve the Staff, Students, Parents School Community Council, and Members of the Mossbank Community in a regular review of the bullying prevention policy and school level practices to determine what is working and what needs to be improved in order to reduce and prevent the problem of bullying.