New anti-bullying programme for primary schools launched today in Louth and Monaghan

A new anti-bullying programme is being launched today at the Crowne Plaza in Dundalk as part of the celebrations to mark Universal Children’s Day.

The KiVa Anti-Bullying Programme is an innovative school-based anti-bullying programme that is being launched in eight schools in Louth and Monaghan. This is in response to what parents see as the biggest concern they have for their children.

The programme is targeted at children from 1st to 6th class in primary schools and was developed at the University of Turku in Finland using cutting-edge research on bullying and its mechanisms. New research from the eight schools shows that 23% of students have reported being bullied 2 or 3 times a month or more often.

The initial implementation of the KiVa Anti-Bullying Programme is taking place in eight schools, listed below, but will be expanded to more schools in the academic year 2019/2020.

As part of the introduction of the programme 1,674 students completed an online survey in May and June 2018 from the eight schools to generate information on the schools’ current environment – to record the amount of bullying taking place, how the students perceive the school and how it is dealing with bullying.

The programme is being funded by the Department of Children & Youth Affairs through the Area Based Childhood Programme, by the Louth Children & Young People’s Services Committee and through PEACE IV as part of a Youth Resilience and Anti-Bullying Initiative in Monaghan with partners Cavan Monaghan Education & Training Board (ETB) and the ISPCC.

They eight schools in Louth and Monaghan are:

• Marymount NS (Drogheda/Louth)
• St. John’s JNS (Drogheda/Louth)
• Redeemer BNS (Dundalk/Louth)
• St. Joseph’s NS (Dundalk/Louth)
• St. Daigh’s NS (Inniskeen/Monaghan)
• St. Tiarnach’s Primary School (Clones/Monaghan)
• Scoil Mhuire (Latton/Monaghan)
• Latnamard Primary School (Latnamard/Monaghan)