What is bullying?
Bullying is ‘behaviour by an individual or group, repeated over time, that intentionally hurts another individual or group either physically or emotionally’.
It is important to distinguish between bullying and rough play / arguments / misunderstandings. The following features help to identify bullying:
- it is deliberately hostile towards the victim and repeated.
- the victim is less powerful than the child/ren displaying bullying behaviour.
- the outcome is always painful and distressing for the victim.
Bullying does not just occur between children. We recognise that bullying can also be perpetrated by children on adults, by adults on children and by adults on other adults.
