In recent months, parents, students and teachers may have heard mention of the forthcoming Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP) that WIS planned to introduce this academic year.
You may have even seen or heard the 4 OBPP rules:
We will not bully others.
We will try to help students who are bullied.
We will try to include students who are left out.
If we know that someone is being bullied, we will tell an adult at school and an adult at home.
I will soon complete the training as the school’s OBPP coach and wanted to post a quick note about the program as well as give a head’s up to the WIS community about what to expect in the coming weeks and months in relation to our bullying prevention approach.
The OBPP is a school-wide, long-term, evidence-based approach to bullying prevention. The program takes a systemic, holistic view of bullying prevention and works at the school-wide, classroom, individual and community level, aiming to create a positive school wide climate where bullying is less likely to occur and where bullying is addressed promptly and consistently when it does occur. Measures used to achieve this aim include initiatives like school wide training, regular bullying prevention staff discussions and class meetings involving students as well as reviewing and refining a school’s supervisory system. An initial step is administration of the school-wide Olweus Bullying Questionnaire which provides a baseline and helps to guide the school in its particular approach to implementing the program. Every person within the wider school community is involved from families and students, staff in all areas of the school team and other stakeholders and community members.
Our next step will be to form a Bullying Prevention Coordination Committee which will be responsible for ensuring that all components of the program are implemented in the school, including training delivery and which will comprise of a school administrator, teachers, non-teaching school staff, parents and a community representative. Please do look out for more communication on this in the coming weeks but in the meantime, if this is something you might be interested in being involved in, please do get in touch with me. You can find more information on the Clemson University Olweus website https://clemsonolweus.org/about.php
I look forward to seeing how the Olweus Program is going to look in practice in our WIS context.
Bianca Salamon
School Counselor
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