MuirfieldHighSchool

　　A welcoming and friendly school, with strong community links. We provide a caring and supportive learning environment that promotes leadership and social responsibilities. With excellent resources and facilities, we nurture student achievement.

　　Muirfield High School is as a comprehensive co-educational high school and enjoys excellent community links and support through its P&C. Muirfield provides a caring, supportive learning environment which offers students a wide range of opportunities to achieve and to experience success, we promote leadership and social responsibility. The school has a clear vision and an agreed set of principles that underpins planning and reflects our ethos, 'Educating Today for Managing Tomorrow'.

　　Our vision is to provide a quality educational environment that promotes our core values: integrity, excellence, respect, responsibility, cooperation, participation, care, fairness and community. The school has grown significantly in the past few years with more students wanting to take advantage of the outstanding facilities, which include a four hectare farm, extensive sporting facilities, high quality specialty computer rooms and outstanding Performing Arts areas.

　　The school boasts a concert band, a vocal ensemble, a number of excellent rock bands, a guitar program and a Talented Sporting program. We are very proud of our recent increase in value-added results in external examinations and our mission is to continue this excellent growth. With a clear focus on quality teaching, Muirfield High School aims to meet the needs of 21st century learners in a technology rich environment.

　　Our definition of bullying:

　　Bullying can be defined as intentional, repeated behaviour by an individual or group of individuals that causes distress, hurt or undue pressure. Bullying involves the abuse of power in relationships. Bullying can involve all forms of harassment, humiliation, domination and intimidation of others. Bullying behaviour can be verbal, physical, social or psychological.

　　We consider the following behaviour to be bullying:

　　Physical:

　　o Hitting, kicking, punching;

　　o Pushing, shoving, spitting;

　　o Forcing others to hand over food, money or something that belongs to them; and

　　o Making someone do something they don't want to do.

　　Verbal:

　　o Name calling;

　　o Teasing, insults, putdowns;

　　o Threatening of any kind;

　　o Making fun of someone because of their appearance, physical characteristics or cultural background; and

　　o Making fun of someone's actions.

　　Indirect: (social and psychological)

　　o Excluding others from the activity or the group;

　　o Spreading untrue stories about others;

　　o Making inappropriate gestures;

　　o Taking, hiding or damaging something which belongs to someone else;

　　o Sending nasty emails or text messages; and

　　o The inappropriate use of websites, chat-sites or camera phones.

　　Strategies to Deal with Bullying

　　At Muirfield High there is a strong school spirit where effective and systematics programs to communicate to all students the message that bullying is not accepted or tolerated.

　　Responsibilities of staff:

　　o To model appropriate behaviour, respecting individual differences and diversity;

　　o To reinforce the message that bullying is not accepted or tolerated;

　　o To treat seriously all reports or observed incidences of bullying;

　　o To report incidences of bullying to the relevant Year Adviser or the Deputy Principal;

　　o To be observant of signs of distress or suspected incidents of bullying;

　　o To ensure that students are supervised at all times.

　　Responsibilities of students:

　　o To model appropriate behaviour, respecting individual differences and diversity;

　　o To reinforce the message that bullying is not accepted or tolerated;

　　o To help someone who is being bullied;

　　o To refrain from bullying others;

　　o To inform the authorities if they are being bullied or if they see someone else being bullied - both at school and on the way to and from school.

　　Responsibilities of parents:

　　o To model appropriate behaviour, respecting individual differences and diversity;

　　o To reinforce the message that bullying is not accepted or tolerated;

　　o To instruct their children to tell the appropriate authorities if they are bullied;

　　o To watch for signs that their child may be bullied;

　　o To speak to the Year Adviser or the Deputy Principal, responsible for their child’s year group, if their child is being bullied or they suspect that this is happening.

　　Students can expect that their concerns will be responded to by the school staff and that they will be provided with appropriate support (for both the subjects of and those responsible for the behaviour).

　　Students who bully others may face one or more of the following consequences:

　　o Involvement in a mediation process;

　　o Completion of an Anti-Bullying Awareness raising booklet;

　　o Referral to the school counsellor;

　　o Parents may be contacted by the school;

　　o Privileges may be withdrawn (eg exclusion from the playground);

　　o Sanctions outlined in the School's Discipline Policy such as detention and suspension.

　　Muirfield High School provides a range of effective programs to ensure a safe and secure environment promoting personal growth and excellence in all students. We aim to develop confidence and self esteem to empower students to take responsibility for themselves and their actions. As part of this, the anti-bullying message is consistently communicated to students.

　　These programs include:

　　o MindMatters Program:

　　o A proactive Student Welfare committee and program including camps, guest speakers and special performances;

　　o The Peer Support Program;

　　o A buddy system between Year 7 and senior students;

　　o Anti-bullying programs;

　　o Active leadership by the Prefects and the Student Representative Council;

　　o Development of positive Student Leadership roles;

　　o The PDHPE program;

　　o The role of the school counsellor;

　　o Year Meetings;