The tight grip of new-age bullying

Sschool children are at risk of text and cyber bullying because of out-of-date policies originally set to protect them, a report into a Wellington bullying case has found.

The report was initiated after The Dominion Post revealed a 15-year-old pupil at St Mary's College in Wellington was tormented by text messages for more than six months.

The girl's mother said the school did not do enough to stop the ordeal. Her daughter developed an eating disorder, lost 12 kilograms and spent three weeks in hospital recovering.

The report's author, Bruce Murray, a former school principal, said the school's non-violence policy had been in place for more than 10 years. Though reviewed every three years, it needed to be "thoroughly" overhauled.

"This is necessary because the world of communication has changed dramatically over this time. Both cellphones and websites are now able to be used for good or ill, including bullying."

St Mary's principal Mary Cook said the school's policy needed an overhaul.

"It doesn't include things like IT and it doesn't take into account text messaging, cellphones, that type of thing ... It needs to be more explicit than it is."

The independent report was fair "to both sides", she said. "No school is free of bullying. And I believe in our case, we did everything we could given the information we had."

The nature of the new bullying made it hard for schools to monitor it, Ms Cook said. "That's the thing we've got very little control over as schools ... it's outside of school a lot of these things are happening."

The victim's mother said her daughter told the school counsellor when the bullying started, but was told it was just "girls being girls" and would "blow over".

But the report said the mother's view was second-hand and she was not told about the incident till six months after the event.

The school said the girl did not ask for help over a matter involving her, and the counsellor's notes supported this.

Mr Murray rejected the "implied allegation" that the guidance counsellor acted unprofessionally.

The mother was relieved the policies would be changed. "Hopefully no-one else has to go through this otherwise there could be a tragic end."

Her daughter had changed schools but was still affected by the incident. "She's not the girl she used to be."

School Trustees Association president Lorraine Kerr said schools should review their policies on text and cyber bullying.

"It's an issue that can't be ignored ... It's now about finding positive strategies to deal with it as opposed to `we don't want to know about it' type attitudes."

- © Fairfax NZ News