In December 2022, the Loreto Secondary School Wexford was awarded Full Shield Status (2022-2024) The Shield programme aims to support schools in their efforts to proactively manage bullying and protect children and young people from bullying through prevention and intervention strategies. The Loreto recognises the very serious nature of bullying and the negative impact that it can have on the lives of students. Therefore, it is fully committed to the following key principles of best practice in preventing and tackling bullying behaviour:
- A positive school culture and climate which
- is welcoming of difference and diversity and is based on inclusivity
- encourages students to disclose and discuss incidents of bullying behaviour in a non-threatening environment
- promotes respectful relationships across the school community
- Effective leadership
- A school-wide approach
- A shared understanding of what bullying is and its impact
- Implementation of education and prevention strategies (including awareness raising measures) that a. build empathy, respect and resilience in students; and b. explicitly address the issues of cyber-bullying and identity-based bullying including in particular, homophobic and trans-phobic bullying
- Effective supervision and monitoring of students
- Supports for staff
- Consistent recording, investigation and follow up of bullying behaviour (including use of established intervention strategies)
- On-going evaluation of the effectiveness of the anti-bullying policy.