Small grants make big impact across country SA - Uncovering covert and cyber bullying

Ceduna Area School used its grant funding to run anti-bullying events focusing on the effects of covert and cyber bullying. Both forms of bullying aren’t as obvious to students and the school wanted to highlight the equally damaging effects that can come from this type of bullying.

Senior School Counsellor Frew Halbert, who ran the program and presented to senior school students about covert bullying, said it really opened students’ eyes to the problem.

“Many of the senior school students weren’t aware that some of the behaviours we were discussing were actually bullying,” she said.

“The penny seemed to drop that some of the actions that many students identified with were actually bullying behaviours that had the potential for very serious consequences. They were then able to identify how some of these actions actually made their peers feel.”

The school also used real examples of bullying as a medium for discussion. This allowed the students to view these behaviours through the lens of those who are on the receiving end of these actions.

Other schools in the region have been watching the program with interest and are keen to adopt the same innovative approach to the problem.