Sudbury Catholic District School Board
 Safe and Accepting Schools

Safe and Accepting Schools

Program Description 

The Sudbury Catholic District School Board is committed to providing a safe, healthy and inclusive environment for its students and staff.

Our Board’s multi-year strategic plan and the initiatives undertaken by our Board demonstrate our commitment to our faith-based, inclusive and equitable community.

With a focus on Community, we provide our students with the tools for realizing their academic potential, while also instilling in them a life-long commitment to their faith, and to the community. We know that true community both requires and creates a sense of belonging, and it is this same sense of community that has been instrumental to the ongoing success of our students.

Faith-based, safe, inclusive and equitable school environments foster and support learning and the ongoing development of respect, responsibility, civility and other positive behaviours and characteristics. 

Bullying Prevention

The Sudbury Catholic District School Board (SCDSB) recognizes the importance of a safe, inclusive, caring and accepting school climate and takes bullying seriously.

What is Bullying?

Bullying is defined as a form of repeated, persistent and aggressive behaviour directed at an individual or individuals that is intended to cause (or should be known to cause) fear and distress and/or harm to another person’s body, feelings, self-esteem or reputation. Bullying occurs in a context where there is a real or perceived power imbalance.

Schools are expected to use opportunities to explain the different forms bullying can take. These include:

  • Physical – hitting, shoving, stealing or damaging property
  • Verbal – name calling, mocking, or making sexist, racist or homophobic comments
  • Social – excluding others from a group or spreading gossip or rumours about them
  • Electronic (commonly known as cyberbullying) – spreading rumours and hurtful comments through the use of cellphones, e-mail, text messaging and social networking sites

Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week

Ontario has designated the week beginning on the third Sunday of November as Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week to help promote safe schools and a positive learning environment. During this week, students, staff and parents are encouraged to learn more about bullying and its effects on student learning and well-being.

How do we support?

  • Early and ongoing interventions strategies may be necessary to sustain and promote positive student behaviour and/or address underlying causes of inappropriate behaviour. For example, ongoing interventions may include, but are not limited to, meetings with parents, detentions, verbal reminders, review of expectations, a written work assignment with a learning component volunteer service to the school community, conflict mediation, peer mentoring, behaviour plans and/or a referral to counseling.
  • Progressive discipline is a whole-school approach that utilizes a continuum of interventions, supports, and consequences to address inappropriate student behaviour and to build upon strategies that promote positive behaviour.
  • Each school website offers an anonymous safe school reporting process where students and families can report instances of bullying.

Code of Conduct

The Sudbury Catholic District School Board recognizes that all people are created in the image and likeness of God, and as such deserve to be treated with dignity, respect, and fairness. The Board is committed to making each and every one of its Catholic schools a caring place where all members of the school community feel safe, welcomed and accepted. The Board fosters a Christ-centered, positive school climate, free from discrimination or harassment where principles of equity and inclusive education support positive student behaviour. The Board’s Code of Conduct will be consistently implemented in each school and facility of the Board.

Code of Conduct Administrative Guidelines

Safe Schools Procedure

Violence Threat Risk Assessment (VTRA)

The Sudbury Catholic District School Board aims to maintain a positive and safe environment in their schools for all students, staff, parents, and visitors. Any violence or harassment of any kind will be taken very seriously. Because of this, when a student’s behaviour poses a serious threat to his or her safety or the safety of others, a Violence Threat Risk Assessment (VTRA) will be activated.

The protocol for the VTRA was developed by partners within the Greater City of Sudbury and is activated by the principal of each school when a student commits an act that may present a risk for their safety or the safety of others. A trained team with members from the school board, police, and community partners evaluate the importance of risks of behaviour and puts measures in place to prevent any threatening acts. The partners will share information, advice and support, and plans will be developed to minimize the risk. In sharing personal information, each individual’s right to privacy will be balanced with the need to ensure the safety of all.

The parents of the students having made the threats play a key-role in the process of gathering information, and in the process of developing a plan for the student. When a VTRA is activated, parents/guardians will be notified. If a concern for safety still exists, and parents/guardians cannot be reached, or if they choose not to provide consent to share information, the threat assessment process will proceed. In sharing personal information, each individual’s right to privacy will be balanced with the need to ensure the safety of all. Student safety is our first priority.

We reiterate our commitment to maintain a positive and safe school environment in each of our schools. If you have any questions regarding the evaluation process for risk and threats, please do not hesitate to contact the principal of your child’s school.

Fair Notice to Staff, Students, Parents and Community

Resources

Be Web Aware

Consider the Consequences of Vaping

Cyber Bullying

Education World – Bullying Intervention Strategies That Work

EduGAINS – Mental Health and Well-Being

Legalization of Recreational Cannabis

Ontario Ministry of Education – Safe Schools: Preventing Bullying and Harassment

Promoting Relationships & Eliminating Violence Network (PREVNet)

Safe@School – led by the Ontario Teachers’ Federation (OTF)

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