Page 145 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 13 February 2019
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
Schools—bullying
MRS JONES: My question is to the minister for education. I refer to a report in the Canberra Times of 11 February this year about bullying at a Tuggeranong primary school. I quote:
“My son has been vomiting before school, he’s so stressed, they make us promises but it keeps happening,” one parent, who did not want to be identified, said.
Minister, what exactly is the government doing in the meantime, while investigations are going on, to make this school safe for those children?
MS BERRY: Yes, that is very distressing to hear that from a parent, and that family’s experience of what was going on with that child during those incidents. Some of the measures that have been taken I described yesterday. There will be a meeting with the school community this week. Some of the other changes that have occurred at that school include increased staff supervision in the playground during breaks and new structured activities including interest-based clubs and activities during recess and lunch. Students are currently letting the school know their interests via a survey so that the clubs can be up and running by week 3, next week.
There is the ongoing rollout of the positive behaviour for learning program, which I can speak more about if the Assembly is interested; a planned series of workshops and information sessions to assist parents to support their children at school; and, importantly, increased communication with families. The directorate has also had a hotline, a phone number, for families to get in touch with the directorate if they want to do that in a confidential way, an anonymous way, if they are not comfortable to talk about that publicly at the school level. There have also been Education Directorate officials available at the school during drop-off and pick-up times for parents to raise any issues that they might have or talk about their experiences, positive or otherwise, at the school community.
So there is a lot of work happening right now to rebuild that community at that school to make sure that every child is supported and feels safe.
MRS JONES: How many children at ACT government schools need counselling as a result of bullying at ACT government schools, and how exactly is that provided?
MS BERRY: Children are supported in lots of different ways in public schools. In the ACT, as you will know, there are 20-plus psychologists available across our schools, which the government committed to implementing as part of our election commitments. There are school counsellors and other workers in schools. Also, children will have different relationships with people that they trust in schools, and that they can also get support and advice from. I do not know if that information is collected generally. There is likely to be some information about how students are getting support from psychologists and counsellors, but not more generally. They can get support in lots of different ways.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video