Cambridge Child Development Centre promotes a conducive, stimulating, responsive and safe learning environment that will enable all children to freely explore, experiment, create and learn.
Bullying in any form is not tolerated by the Cambridge management. Should any incident of bullying occur, the matter will be dealt with seriously and expediently.
I. Preliminary Provisions
Section 1. Legal Basis. This Policy is adopted in compliance with Republic Act No. 10627, otherwise known as the “Anti-Bullying Act of 2013”.
Section 2. Scope and Coverage. This policy applies to the Nursery and Kindergarten programs at Cambridge Child Development Centre, herafter referred to as the “School”.
Section 3. The following shall be the parties and/or stakeholders in bullying incidents:
- Bully – refers to the student who commits any of the acts of bullying defined in R.A. No.10627, its Implementing Rules and regulations (IRR), and this Policy.
- Bystander – refers to any student who witnesses or has personal knowledge of any actual or perceived acts or incidents of bullying or retaliation as defined by R.A. No. 10627. Bystanders include the silent majority of students who witness bullying but are unable to do something because of fear; and those who try to stop bullying by defending the victim or reporting the incident.
- Bullied or Victim – refers to any student who experiences the acts of bullying
- Parent or Guardian – refers to the parent or guardian, of either the bully or victim, or other students involved in the bullying incident, on record with the School.
- School – refers to Cambridge Child Development Centre
- School Personnel – refers to all staff and employees of the School; regardless of rank or status; whether full-time or part-time; and whether contractual or regular.
II. Prohibition on Bullying
Section 4. Definition of Bullying.
Bullying refers to the “willful, aggressive behavior that is directed towards a particular victim who may be out-numbered, younger, weak, with disability, less confident or otherwise vulnerable”. (DepEd Child Protection Policy, DepEd Oredr No.40,s2012)
In the context of Early Childhood setting, bullying is defined as a form of emotional or physical abuse that has three defining characteristics (Snow, Kyle. NAEYC, 2014)
- Deliberate—A bully’s intention is to hurt someone
- Repeated—A bully often targets the same victim again and again
- Power imbalanced—A bully chooses victims he or she perceives as vulnerable
In other words, it is a series of acts intended to hurt another child, committed by a child to gain or to assert greater power over another child.
Section 5. Common Forms of Bullying
There are three main types of bullying in early childhood setting:
(1) physical bullying, such as hitting and pushing,
(2) verbal bullying, such as yelling and name-calling, and
(3) relational bullying, such as excluding or getting others to hurt someone.
- Shouting “Mine!” while grabbing a toy is a typical behavior of young children that is not usually considered bullying. However, if educators allow this behavior to be directed repeatedly and intentionally toward a targeted child without intervention, it can lead to verbal and physical forms of bullying.
- Young children like to whisper secrets and call each other silly names. But when whispering spreads rumors or private information, when silly names become hurtful name-calling, and when one child repeatedly becomes the target, these childhood games should be considered bullying.
- Children who say, “You can’t play with me,” may not yet be deliberately excluding selected classmates, but this behavior can easily develop into relational bullying and escalate into the more sophisticated forms of social exclusion used by older children (e.g., “You can’t be my friend if you’re friends with her”). Even five year olds have been observed manipulating their classmates to single out and exclude a vulnerable peer (see “Vicky’s Story”).
- Children’s make-believe play provides opportunities for some children to manipulate and assert power over their playmates. Children who take charge of assigning the roles of mother, father, baby, and dog in a make-believe family are not yet bullying. But when these children consistently assign one child to play the less desirable roles (e.g., the dog, the baby, or the bad guy), don’t permit playmates to switch roles, and even control the child’s actions (demanding that the child bark, cry, or go to jail), they are deliberately and repeatedly using their power to take advantage of a vulnerable child—a key component of bullying.
III. Prevention Programs
Section 6. Prevention of Bullying Behavior
Cambridge encourages an environment free from bullying. The following are preventive measures the center practices to avoid, if not eliminate, the bullying behavior.
- Model positive ways for young children to make friends. Offer words and actions they need to be successful. Practice positive ways that children can ask to join others in play and take turns in games. Coach older students to help reinforce these behaviors as well.
- Talk frequently with young children about interactions with peers in their classrooms, on playdates, with siblings and in sports or other activities. Use words to help them understand what behaviors are friendly, or not, and what the consequences of certain actions are in age-appropriate terms (e.g. If you don’t share, other children may not want to play with you). Give specific examples of wrong doings and never assume the child knows that what they did was bullying.
- Set clear rules for behavior, monitor children’s interactions carefully and step in quickly to stop aggressive behavior or redirect it before it occurs.
- Use age-appropriate consequences for aggressive behavior, and as often as possible encourage children to make simple reparations for harm caused by their aggression (whether accidental or on purpose). Encourage children to say “I’m Sorry” when their behavior caused harm.
- Help children to be more aware of their harmful words and behaviors. Children may need adult’s help to identify consequences of their words and behaviors with peers. (E.g. “When you told him that he couldn’t be your friend today, that probably made him sad”. )
- Help children learn to substitute alternative behaviors for aggression. Model appropriate actions to use with peers, give them specific non-aggressive words to use with peers and liberally praise children for appropriate behavior.
- Be vigilant about aggression and bullying among children. Strict supervision in class is very important.
- Tell an adult – Talk frequently with children about what they should do if they are treated in a way that makes them feel uncomfortable or upset/unhappy, or if they witness other children being harmed or bullied. Teach them to say “No” and “Stop” and to immediately go get adult help. They can be encouraged to talk about ways they can help each other, but will likely have difficulty putting these lessons into practice without adult guidance and support.
- Catch them doing good. Increasing cooperative behaviors is one of the best strategies for preventing bullying. Teachers can intervene when they see or hear children acting in cooperative ways, such as helping a classmate, sharing a toy, and inviting someone to join their play group. When teachers pay attention to and encourage these desirable behaviors, children will increase their cooperative behaviors and reduce their bullying behaviors.
- Distinguish between conflict and bullying. Conflict and bullying require different intervention strategies. Conflict involves disagreements between children with nearly equal power but different self-interests (e.g., disagreements over possession of a toy or who was first in line). Teachers can mediate mutually acceptable resolutions or coach the children to use their own negotiation skills to resolve conflicts in a mutually agreeable way. Observing children’s actions, words, body language, and facial expressions will help determine if bullying is occurring.
- Use real life events, children’s literature and plays to talk about how characters made good or bad behavior choices, and to practice what they might do. Even though they may not follow through, you are laying important groundwork to preventing bullying.
IV. The Anti-Bullying Committee
Section 7. Composition.
The committee shall be composed of the following:
a. Centre Directresses
Ms. Iris Pinto – BHS
Ms. Natalie Gimenez – Las Pinas
Ms. Ezralyn De Leon – Alabang
Ms. Jinky Alzate – Imus
Ms. Erika Magbuhos – Salcedo-Makati
Ms. Mari Cris Torio – Legaspi- Makati
Ms. Chiekie Agngarayngay – Binondo
Ms. Katrina Guevarra – Hemady
Ms. Kristine Montecillo – Mariposa
Ms. Jennifer Avila – Circulo Verde
Ms. Yvonnie Vitanzos – Congressional
b. Area Vice President:
Ms. Blue Ragudo (South: BHS, Las Pinas, Alabang, Imus)
Ms. Mel Delos Santos (Central: Salcedo-Makati, Legaspi-Makati, Binondo)
Ms. Jane Bautista (North: Hemady, Mariposa, Circurlo Verde, Congressional)
c. Guidance Counselor/ External Operations Head: – Ms. Arleene C. Rollo
d. Representative of Teachers (Indicate name of teacher)
e. Representative of Parents (Indicate name of parents)
Section 8. Functions.
The Anti-Bullying Committee shall perform the following tasks:
- Conduct awareness-raising programs with school stakeholders in preventing and addressing bullying;
- Ensure that the anti-bullying policy adopted by the school is implemented;
- Monitor all cases or incidents related to bullying reported or referred by the teacher, guidance counselor or any person designated to handle prevention and intervention measures mentioned by the preceding sections of this Policy; and
- Make necessary referrals to appropriate agencies, offices or persons, as may be required by the circumstances.
V. Handling Bullying Incidents in the Centre
Section 9. Response to Bullying Behavior
While the school takes effort in preventing the incidence of bullying, Cambridge acknowledges that bullying on occasion is inevitable. In such cases, the following procedures are taken by the school in dealing with bullying behavior:
a. The staff is oriented to be aware of the signs of bullying.
b. All cases of bullying shall have an accompanying Incident Report to be accomplished by the teacher.
c. All cases reported by the parent or child will be noted and will be initially discussed by the teacher, the Centre Directress and Area Vice President.
d. The child’s teacher will observe the reported child for a week and will furnish log notes which will serve as reference to determine what might trigger the behavior.
e. Once signs of bullying are validated, the child’s teacher and the school head, together with the parent will talk to the reported child to determine what is causing the behavior.
f. The teacher will explain to the child doing the bullying why such behavior is unacceptable.
g. The child doing the unacceptable behavior, such as bullying, will be assisted to recognize the impact of his/her behavior.
h. The Anti-Bullying Committee will request for a meeting with the child’s parents and teachers to discuss possible interventions for bullying.
i. The Anti-Bullying Committee and the family will plan to help the child eliminate the bullying behavior.
j. The Guidance Conselor will provide psychological and emotional support both to the victim and the child who is bullying.
k. Incidents of bullying will be recorded and will be treated with utmost confidentiality.
l. The Centre may, upon evaluation, refer the bullied and the bully to trained professionals outside the school, such as psychologists or child protection specialist for further assessment and appropriate intervention measures, as may be necessary.
VI. Disciplinary Measures
Section 10. Sanctions. If the act of Bullying is committed, the following disciplinary measures will be done:
a. Oral Reprimand – The child will be given oral reminders by the Committee.
b. Written Reprimand – The child after having committed three (3) different incidents of bullying shall be given a written reprimand.
c. The School may, after careful evaluation and efforts done to correct the behavior, refer the alleged bully and/or the alleged victim for counselling of School’s Guidance Counsellor or to a private counsellor of their choice, or to other intervention programs of the school should it become necessary.
Section 11. Effectivity.
This Policy shall take effect immediately upon the date of its approval and shall not be modified, altered, amended unless otherwise resolved through a valid Resolution of the Board of Trustees/ Heads of the Centre.
References:
Author Unknown. “Preventing Bullying in Early Childhood Education”. http://preventingbullying.promoteprevent.org/preventing-bullying-in-early-childhood
DepEd. Child Protection Policy, DepEd Order No.40,s2012
Snow, Kyle. “Bullying in Early Childhood”. http://www.naeyc.org/blogs/bullying-early-childhood
Storey, Kim and Ron Slaby. “ Eyes on Bullying in Early Childhood Education.” http://www.promoteprevent.org/sites/www.promoteprevent.org/files/resources/Eyes%20on%20Bullying%20in%20Early%20Childhood_1.pdf