Here you can read about our school policy on how we promote student welfare and work with preventative measures with regards to equal treatment.

School policy

ISLK is committed to create an environment of equal opportunities that promotes understanding and respect, with a continuous focus on social responsibility and democratic issues. The aim of the school is to provide a quality curriculum, allowing students to realize their highest potential and gain a life-long love for learning. Our mission is to educate all students in a supportive and challenging environment to become open-minded, life-long learners whose performance is a credit to themselves and society. In order to be successful academically ISLK recognizes that its students must enjoy school and be supported in a sense wider than the academic. Individual welfare and academic success are interdependent, an axiom reflected in the school’s commitment to the IB’s ‘holistic’ principles.

• Everyone has the right to feel safe and included at the school.
• Everyone has the right to personal integrity and dignity.
• Everyone should know where to go if they need support.
• There is zero tolerance of degrading treatment in the school.

Information about the Plan

The Plan is communicated to students during mentor time and class councils, in the beginning of every school year. The teachers and students will connect to the Plan throughout the school year in different units where applicable. To staff the Plan will be implemented during workplace meetings, and to parents via parents’ meetings and through the school’s web-based learning platform. There are also two student friendly versions of the plan, one for PYP and one for MYP easily accessible in every classroom and in the digital classrooms (Google classroom).

Assessment

Assessment of the work with last year’s plan was taken up in the Educational Leadership team (ELT), Learning Support Team, at MYP and PYP development meetings the Student Councils and the ISLK Friends development group. The plan gets updated during the school year.

Responsibility and participation

Principal and Vice Principal

The principal is responsible for developing, implementing, evaluating and reviewing this plan. The principal has a responsibility to communicate the plan to staff, students and parents. The principal is responsible to convene meetings with parents in degrading treatment investigations and to contact the Social services or the Police if necessary. These things can also be delegated by the Principal to the Vice Principal or the counsellor.

Staff

The work teams continually discuss issues relating to campaigns and preventive measures. All staff members participate in work relating to vision and goals.

Daily all members of staff are responsible for creating an environment of equal opportunities that promotes understanding, support and respect. School staff also has a responsibility to model and promote appropriate behaviour and to respond in a timely manner to incidents of degrading treatment. In addition teachers have a responsibility to provide pedagogy that supports students to develop an understanding of equal treatment work, degrading treatment and its impact on individuals and the broader community.

Students

Students have a responsibility to contribute to a good working climate and to strive for positive relationships with peers and staff. They have a responsibility to follow school rules and respect individual differences and diversity. Moreover they are asked to report incidents of degrading treatment according to this Plan.

Parent/Guardian

Continual discussions about values and student welfare are held with the Parents and Teachers Association (PTA) at school.

Parents and guardians have a responsibility to respect and follow the school rules and policies. Parents and guardians are encouraged to collaborate with the school to support their children to become upstanding citizens and to develop responsible behaviour, which also includes online behaviour. They are asked to report incidents of school related degrading treatment and work collaboratively with the school to resolve incidents.

Equal Treatment work at ISLK

ISLK is an inclusive school with a goal to be the best school for every student. Student diversity of all kinds can be included as a resource, seeing individual differences not as problems to be fixed, but as opportunities for enriched learning. It is the school’s responsibility to promote student welfare and to work with preventative measures with regards to equal treatment. The ISLK Inclusive education policy in addition to the Equal treatment plan and the ISLK expectations for staff and students are important supporting documents in creating a safe and calm work environment. These documents are used in teaching and learning, development meetings and learning support work with students and staff.

Examples of structures to promote equal treatment and a nice and safe learning environment at ISLK

• ISLK works according to the IB Learner Profile, code of conduct and units according to the IBO Programmes where we develop international mindedness in our students’ value systems. Teachers are role models for students and each other in their daily work.
• All classes have Essential agreements for their individual class and subjects aligned with the ISLK school rules and expectations.
• The school has regular whole-school/program-specific/year-group assemblies on particular themes, e.g. being a caring member of the society and celebration of diversity (e.g. UN Day).
• Equal rights and opportunities, identity, expression, ethnicity, religion or other belief and other core values are being addressed in PYP and MYP units of work as well as during mentor time/circle time.
• To help student wellbeing and contribute to a safe and calm learning environment, ISLK has adopted the Positive Discipline approach (PYP) and the Restorative approach (MYP) which aligns with the inclusive approach and IB core values. It is a tool for pedagogical staff to use to support them in working with behaviour in the classrooms. It encourages understanding, open-mindedness and respect towards other people and their personality – strengths and weaknesses.
• The Learning Support Team meets every week to monitor and follow up on student wellbeing (psychosocial, health and progress) on a school, group and individual level. The team’s responsibility is to promote student wellbeing. ISLK Learning support team meets every week for PYP and MYP program specific errands and 2-3 times per term for whole school errands. The Learning Support Team members are available for individual meetings with students, staff and guardians.
• PYP and MYP have Student Collaboration meetings for all year groups once a term with a focus on student wellbeing where the purpose is to share good practise, identify patterns and find solutions on a group and individual level.
• ISLK has focus groups of students in M1-5 to have input on learning environment. Input from students are shared with staff and the learning support team.
• ISLK has staff on break duty, rules and routines for the playground and adults in changing rooms for PYP students.
• MYP 1-3 students have allocated time to implement ATL (approaches to learning) affective skills to enhance students’ affective skills to be able to handle and build relationships and self-esteem.
• The PYP programme has a student wellbeing buddy system across year groups with the aim to strengthen the school community.
• ASP (After School Program/Fritids) and PYP staff has student wellbeing routines and meetings to enhance collaboration around the whole school day for the students.
• The school has been taking part in the FRIENDS programme 2012-2016 which increased our awareness and knowledge. The school has continued to use the FRIENDS questionnaire, theme books and up-date training sessions. Parent and staff have also participated in Friends Safety Online training.
• The Principal informs all parents at the beginning of term about the laws in Sweden with regards to equality and how it is applied in school.
• ISLK students do annual surveys such as The School inspectorate survey, LUNK, the ISLK Student wellbeing as well as unit and subject evaluations to get student input on teaching and learning.

Preventative ongoing activities

• ISLK has class councils and PYP and MYP Student Councils providing opportunity for students to take action, be involved and in control of their education.
• Weekly class meetings/mentor time in all year groups providing opportunity for students to discuss collaboration, friendship and welfare in the school environment.
• Anti-degrading treatment campaigns and “appropriate language” campaigns.
• PYP and MYP students go on field trips to recognize freedom of religion. They have units of inquiry on e.g disability and inclusion. They arrange debates on age-appropriate controversial issues to teach respectful debate and multiple perspectives.
• MYP students work on the grounds of discrimination e.g. units on disability to improve understanding and tolerance for other students’ needs.
• The ISLK Learning support team work in collaboration to ensure social emotional learning opportunities including sex and health education and Stop my body (Stopp min kropp) with different activities according to year group.
• MYP 4/5 visits Ungdomsmottagningen (Youth Clinic) to discuss and get information on relations and sex and health education.
• At After School Program (ASP, Fritids) several different celebrations are being honoured throughout the year: Halloween, Eid, Pakistan Day, Hanukah, Christmas, Chinese New Year, Bangladesh Day, Easter, Lucia, etc.
• Core value exercises and group-strengthening activities in unit/class/mentor time.
• PYP has the subject PSPE, Personal, social and physical education (encompasses physical, emotional, cognitive, spiritual and social health and development).
• All staff have the option to eat a pedagogical lunch with the students in the dining room which gives a high student to staff ratio and contributes to a calm environment.
• At ASP the children are organised into small mentor groups in order to feel included, welcomed and supervised and there is collaboration between the grade levels with an inclusive approach.
• Group meetings for new students led by School Counsellor.
• All students in the pre-school class, Year 4 and Year 8 have individual health discussions with the School Nurse every year.
• Staff work in Professional Learning Communities (PLC:s) with a focus on inclusive education and student wellbeing to promote a common approach and understanding amongst staff.
• Whole school activity days.
• Teambuilding field trips, for example in Skrylle.
• PYP House groups.
• School celebrations for example UN-day, Earth Hour Day, Whole School Party and Crafts day at Christmas (MYP).

Degrading treatment

Definitions of degrading treatment and discrimination

Degrading treatment includes behavior that violates a child or student’s dignity, without necessarily being defined as discrimination according to The Discrimination Act (2008:567). Degrading treatment can for example consist of violating comments, spreading rumors, ridiculing, kicking and punching, exclusion or threats. It is also common for degrading treatment to occur on the internet, for example on social media.

Degrading treatment can be performed by one or several persons and can also be aimed at one or several persons. A student can for example be subjected to degrading treatment by a staff member or by other students/children. Degrading treatment may consist of one isolated incident or be systematic and reoccurring.

Discrimination according to the Swedish Discrimination Act (2008:567) is when a person’s dignity is violated and/or is treated disfavourably in connection to one of the seven grounds of discrimination:

1. Gender
2. Religion
3. Ethnic background
4. Disability
5. Age
6. Sexual orientation
7. Transgender identity or expression

Source: Report 353:2011, The Swedish National Agency for Education.

Discrimination can be direct or indirect and does not have to be intentional to be unlawful.

Harassment and sexual harassment are also forms of discrimination. Harassment can be the

expression of ridicule or degrading generalisations that have a connection to any of the

grounds of discrimination. Harassment can also be of a sexual nature and can involve comments and words, unwanted touching or leering.

Procedures for investigating degrading treatment

Degrading treatment of student by staff

All violations should be reported to the principal or vice principal, who is responsible for investigation and measures.

How the school handles victims of degrading treatment

The most vital thing is that the degrading treatment is stopped, the victim is heard and steps are taken to help the student to feel safe again. School counsellor/Class teacher/Mentor will continue to monitor the situation.

How the school handles students who subject others to degrading treatment

Degrading treatment is deemed a serious matter and will not be tolerated. The immediate priority is to stop the degrading treatment, therefore instances will be dealt with without delay. Intervention and resolution strategies will be adopted to ensure that the student fully understands the consequences and effects of his/her behavior with regards to the victim.

When necessary disciplinary actions will be taken and reports to the police and/or Social Services will be submitted.

How to proceed with degrading treatment between students

1. The staff member who witnesses or is the first one to hear about the bullying, harassment or degrading treatment is responsible for writing an incident report.
2. Depending on the situation, mentor/teacher/Learning support team member will talk to the students involved and investigate the incident.
3. If needed the guardian of the involved student(s) will be contacted by either mentor/class teacher/LST-member/coordinator.
4. A decision is made whether the matter can be finalized. If the violation is considered to be severe, proceed to step 5.
5. The Learning Support Team is informed and will set up an action plan to stop the degrading treatment.
6. The school will continue to monitor and follow up on the situation.
7. If the school decides it is necessary and beneficial, the School Principal will contact the Social Services or the Police.

All incidents are reported by the school counsellor to the Board of Education in Lunds Kommun.