[ballogo]

If your friend had come to see me and told me about this going on I would have done the following:

1. Spoken to our Deputy Principal to let her know what the parent had said. Most likely she would tell me to take the next steps of action;
2. Spoken to the little girl and recorded specific incidents and examples of the bullying;
3. Spoken to any individuals in the class who may have observed the behaviour - that way when confronting the boys I would have more than one little girls word against theirs;
4. Spoken individually to each boy and given them a chance to 'confess' before giving them details of incidents and seeing if they will own up to the incident;

Sometimes steps 2, 3, and 4 involve going back and forth - especially when one student makes a new claim eg. the boys claim that the little girl has been doing such and such to them etc. Then I need to verify the information. Sometimes the information that comes from these discussions is surprising and unexpected eg. 'victim' did something six months ago and this behaviour is a retaliation for that, or sometimes we find that the victim has been equally annoying back to the said bullies - thus this process of clarification is really important.

5. Once I have clear examples of the behaviour I then go back to the Deputy Principal. Assuming that we have confirmed that bullying has taken place, we then decide on a course of action which involves all the children visiting her at various stages so that she can also clarify what has occured;
6. Action takes place - children visit the Deputy Principal;
7. Consequences are given - usually for bullying, time off the playground, letters written to bullying vicitim and sometimes to the parents of the victim. Students also write out an account of what they did and this goes home to be signed by their parents. This can have several outcomes ranging from an outraged disbelieving parent rushing up to defend their child, to a parent who comes up and sees how they can support and assist their child to address this behaviour and change;
8. Meet with the parent(s) and the little girl and explain what action has been taken.

These steps are all completed in one day. If the incident reoccurs - parents are usually called in for a meeting with the Deputy Principal and/or principal.

Since your friend's child's teacher has not given an appropriate response then I would be encouraging your friend to make an immediate appointment to see the Deputy Principal or Principal.

I hope your friend is able to take action before the end of the school year so that the matter is cleared up for both the little girl and the boys' sakes.