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Where am I now? Lawlink > Violence Against Women Specialist Unit > Publications and Resources > Bullying At School
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Bullying At School
This page has information about bullying at school and advice about what you can do if you are or have experienced this kind of violence.
What is bullying at school?
Bullying at school is when another student, or group of students, uses behaviour that is cruel or hurtful to you. This includes someone being physically violent, making threats or harassing you. Harassment means ongoing verbal or physical attacks against you.
Bullying includes things like:
- teasing
- calling you names
- saying things to put you down or make fun of or humiliate you
- excluding you from groups or activities
- making nasty comments because of your race or your sex or your sexuality
- pushing or hitting you or being violent in some other way
- making threats or saying things that make you or others scared
- forcing you to do silly or dangerous things
- damaging, hiding or breaking your things
- demanding money or food or other items
- belittling your abilities and achievements
- writing mean or spiteful notes or graffiti about you or others
- making fun of how you look
Bullying can happen in the playground, in the toilets, going to and from school or in the classroom.
Bullying is serious. It can be a criminal offence if there is physical violence or threats.
There is lots of bullying in Australian schools. Research suggests that about one in five students have been bullied or harassed at some stage of their time at school. See the Lawstuff and the Bullying No Way! websites for more information.
What can I do if I am experiencing bullying at school?
Tell someone what is happening to you
If you are being bullied at school, tell someone about what is happening to you. You can talk to the school counsellor and ask them to help you do something about it. You can tell your parents so they can talk to the school about it. You can tell your teachers or the principal so they can punish the bully/bullies.
You can keep telling people until someone helps you.
If you have a friend that is being bullied, try to support them. Talk to them about what is happening and ask them if you can help them to do something about it. You could offer to go with them to talk to the school counsellor or the teacher or the principal.
You can also call the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800.
Make a formal complaint to the school
Bullying is not OK and you don’t have to put up with it. You have the right to feel safe. Your school has to make sure that students are not bullied or harassed and that it is a safe place for you to be.
If telling people is not enough to stop the bully’s behaviour, you can make a formal complaint to the school. Ask your parents or someone you trust to help make the complaint if you need to.
Get legal advice
If you are not getting a satisfactory response from your school, you can contact a community legal centre and get legal advice. This is a free and confidential service.
You can contact any community legal centre but it might be useful to start with the National Children’s and Youth Law Centre.
For contact details of the National Children’s and Youth Law Centre and other community legal centres, go to the services that can help page of this website.
Make a complaint to the NSW Department of Education
If no-one at your school will do anything to stop the bullying, you could make a formal complaint to the Department of Education.
For more information about making a complaint to the Department of Education, go to the services that can help page of this website.
Call the police
If someone has been physically or sexually violent towards you, or threatened to be physically or sexually violent towards you, or has damaged or stolen your things, you can tell the police. These behaviours are against the law and if the bully is over 10 years of age, they could be charged or given a warning by the police.
The information in this section is summarised from information on the National Children’s and Youth Law Centre Lawstuff website.
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