NSW students share their experiences of bullying in schools

THEY are the harrowing first-hand accounts of the violence and shattering aftermath of schoolyard bullying.

Students are producing poignant stories, poems, songs and posters as part of the NSW Department of Education's "Bullying. No way" campaign to stop playground violence.

One student, from year 7 at Deniliquin High School, in the state's south west, wrote:

"The bully is like a tiger circling me like prey

The bully throws a punch, 'smack'.

My eye blows up like a balloon,

The bully throws another punch, 'crunch',

My nose is running like a river.

The bully yells at me,

I scream for help."

An account by a year 8 student at the same school recalls: "I stumbled on a loose shoelace, smashed into the ground. I scrambled to my knees, things went really blurry. It was like I was blind, I put my hand to my forehead, red, and that's all I remember before Ben walked up to me and started kicking and punching me. The pain was brutal, my ribs were on fire, I choked on my words, spluttering blood, teeth missing, and bruises covering me from head to toe."

The education department hopes the campaign will not only give a safe learning environment where every student feels supported, respected, valued, but will also encourage other students not to tolerate bullies picking on fellow pupils.

"The Bullying. No Way website provides information and resources for teachers, parents and all school age children," a department spokesman said. "Many schools use the website when they are developing their strategies to prevent and respond to bullying in schools."

He said students writing reflective pieces allows them to understand the effects of bullying and develop positive bystander behaviour.

"Activities such as these may help students to connect with and reflect on the experiences and feelings of others," the spokesman said.

"And help them to understand both the effects of bullying behaviour and the need for positive bystander behaviour."

But psychologists warn that while the practice could be therapeutic, teachers must be careful that the poems and stories don't lead to more students being victimised.

"I don't know how useful that concept is," child and educational psychologist Andrew Greenfield said.

"Children telling their story is not a bad thing. But naming the kid who wrote it is not a great idea.

"I think it is fine if it is anonymous as it is an outlet for that child to let their feelings out, but putting a name to it isn't clever because that kid could be subjected to more bullying.

"They may be victimised and that can have a whole lot of other implications."

Child psychologist Dr Michael Carr-Gregg also believes the exercise could be beneficial but he says schools must be careful the accounts are not too graphic to avoid traumatising other students.

"I do think it can be quite cathartic for students," Dr Carr-Gregg said.

"I also believe it is important that we have a consciousness raising generally in society around bullying because there are too many people with their head in the sand about the damage it does and the extent of the problem.

"However, if it is too graphic, then I would hope that the school exercises a degree of censorship because if it is too graphic, it could have the potential to traumatise some of the readers which would be counterproductive."

Associate Professor Caroline Hunt, clinical training director at the University of Sydney's School of Psychology, said while this could be a positive way to combat bullying, it could also lead to students being labelled as victims of bullying.

"The evidence is if there are exercises kids can do to feel like they are being supported by others, then that is helpful.

"The question is whether this fits into that category," Dr Hunt said.

"What would spring to mind with me is this could lead to them getting a reputation as a victim of bullying from other peers who didn't know.

"I guess if everybody is reading them and identifying there are other kids being victimised, they might feel like they are not the only one. But they need to have people to talk to, rather than just vent by writing things down."