2_9 COMMUNICATING WITH THE SCHOOL WHEN YOU SUSPECT YOUR CHILD IS BEING BULLIED

ZŠ, SŠ

It is important to distinguish bullying from conflicts that commonly occur between classmates. All children sometimes have arguments with others only to become reconciled afterwards, and a teacher may raise their voice to calm down naughty students. Bullying, on the other hand, is a completely different phenomenon: it is an intentional systematic regular long-term violence (physical or verbal), and the relationship between the people involved is uneven – it is the aggressor who dominates. When speaking about violence, it is essential to realize that violent behavior is not only about pushing, kicking, or hitting someone – victims of bullying may not have a single bruise, because verbal violence leaves no visible traces. Mocking, trolling, insulting, humiliating, refusing, ignoring, threatening someone ¬– all these examples of behavior are classified as physical violence.

Bullying is any behavior that intends to harm, endanger, or intimidate another student or a group of students. It is a targeted and recurrent use of force by an individual or a group directing physical and/or psychological attacks at an individual or a group of students, who cannot or are unable to defend themselves for various reasons.

Examples of signs of bullying: the child has no friends, has trouble going to school and/or eating, is sad or unusually aggressive, loses interest in activities, their school performance

IF YOU SUSPECT YOUR CHILD IS A VICTIM OF BULLYING AT SCHOOL, PROCEED AS

1. Talk to your child and try to get as much information as possible: who hurts them and how, how often this happens. Even if your child does not tell you anything specific, changes in their behavior are a good reason to approach the school and get in touch with the homeroom teacher.
!Do not try to deal with the problem by talking to the aggressor or their parents only.
2. Get in touch with the homeroom teacher. Send them an e-mail describing your child’s troubles or specific incidents and arrange a meeting with them. If you are not confident about your Czech, it is a good idea to arrange interpreting services and let the homeroom teacher know in advance the interpreter will accompany you to the meeting. The situation may be resolved at this stage. A written record of the meeting should be produced. Ask for a copy of this document.
★TIPS: Find out who is the school counselor and prevention specialist. This is the person you or your child can turn to should any troubles occur. Many schools also have psychologists or other experts.
3. The school should investigate the matter. Each school should have a bullying management plan. If you receive no update within a week, contact the homeroom teacher and ask them for information. Pokud jste do týdne nedostali žádnou informaci, napište třídnímu učiteli a požádejte o zprávu.
4. If the homeroom teacher fails to offer a solution or ignores the situation and the issue persists, write an e-mail to the school management and ask them for a meeting. Say in the e-mail that you suspect your child is being bullied. Cc the homeroom teacher. At this stage, the school is obliged to investigate the matter in accordance with the school prevention program and inform you about the investigation process.
5. If the school fails to find a solution and your child’s troubles persist, it is time to change the school. Your child’s mental wellbeing is what matters the most.
6. If the school refused to investigate the matter and failed to provide an adequate solution, you can turn to the education division of the municipality as a founding authority of the school, or the Czech School Inspectorate.
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