Friday, 05 August 2022 / Published in Announcements, College

Announcement: Prevention of harassment and bullying of students

Dear Parents/Guardians,

I write to bring to your attention that in the past few months, we have had two complaints by students that they have been subjected to physical assault, bullying and harassment by some other students with the intention of extorting money. While the school authorities have acted promptly to inquire into these complaints and to take disciplinary action against those engaging in this type of unacceptable conduct, we consider it timely to remind all parents of the following rules of the school and to request you to abide by the relevant guidelines in order to ensure that every student of the school has a safe and growth-oriented environment within the school and at all school activities.

Prohibited Conduct

The school has a zero-tolerance policy with regard to any allegation by a student against another student or any other person associated with the school, on –

Bullying or harassment intended to cause physical or mental harm;
Intentional causing of physical harm;
Forcibly obtaining money, property, or any personal favour, whether by threat of physical or mental harm, or any other means;
Any other conduct or behavior considered to be unacceptable by the school and against school rules;
Any of the above complaints may be considered to be against school rules even where it takes place outside the school premises or outside of school hours in some situations such as on external events or events held during holidays.

Disciplinary Procedure and Corrective Measures

Any complaint on any of the above by a student, or a parent on behalf of a student, made to the school will be taken seriously and dealt with immediately according to the school rules, which may include suspension from attending school and/or a disciplinary inquiry conducted by senior management and/or staff, or an external inquiring officer where the school considers same to be appropriate. Thereafter, based on the findings of the disciplinary inquiry, the school may impose the following sanctions on any student:

A written warning to refrain from engaging in any prohibited conduct;
A final warning (where two or more written warnings have been issued to the same student) to refrain from engaging in any prohibited conduct;
Suspension from school for a period as decided by the school authorities, where the students may not enter any premises belonging to the school, or participate in any school activity anywhere;
Loss of all opportunity to participate in co-curricular activities and sports, and permission only to attend academic activities;
Removal from any post or office in the school, whether appointed or elected;
Withdrawal of any school honour or recognition granted for any academic, co-curricular activity or sport, including any scholarship or bursary;
Prevention from attending any academic, co-curricular activity or sport, with permission only to register for government examination as an internal candidate of the school;
Expulsion from school, which will result in cancellation of any awards or honours for co-curricular activities and sports made to the student, and cancellation of any post or office held by the student.

Any or all of the above punishments will form part of the school record of the student against whom any of the above disciplinary action is taken and will be included in the final school leaving certificate. Any of the disciplinary action from (1) to (5) above will disqualify a student from qualifying or applying for any award, honour, position or office of the school or associated with the school. The school may also inform the Old Boys Association to refrain from granting membership to any student expelled from the school.

Please note that the above is in addition to all other rules currently applicable to students and may be amended from time to time in keeping with the objectives of the school.

Additionally, the above will be also applicable to all others associated with Trinity College Kandy.

Role of the Parents

In ensuring the safety of all students, I seek the support and cooperation of parents and guardians, in the following matters:

Please explain the above rules on misconduct and the serious and long-lasting consequences of any misconduct to your children and urge them not to indulge or collaborate in any such prohibited conduct and to report such conduct if they become aware of same;
Please refrain from giving large amounts of money to your children to bring to school for any reasonable purpose such as buying food from the Tuck Shop;
Please send only the required amount (send change preferably rather than large notes) and check that the student has used it for the intended purpose;
Any contributions of money for events or associations will be notified by a letter to the parent or guardian, and can be added to the bill for the term to be paid by the parent with consent;
If your student requests any amount of money for any collection for any association, club or extra-curricular activity, please call the school office on 081- 2234297/ 081 2222089/ 081-2232708 [Upper School / Middle School], 081- 2232219 [Junior School] to verify whether that is correct; please request an official school receipt for any payment sent;
Please check Microsoft Teams, WhatsAapp or other digital social media groups [especially gaming platforms] in which your student is a member from time to time as it has been reported that various unauthorized persons are members of such groups and are using these media to request money for irregular purposes. While we understand that teachers and school staff may need to set up such groups to coordinate normal school activities and practices, please engage with these groups to ensure that no unauthorized activity is taking place.

Please bring any complaint of any prohibited conduct to the attention of the school authorities immediately (the relevant contact details are at the end of this letter), and we assure you that your complaint will be treated confidentially to the extent possible and that you will be kept informed of any action taken or given an explanation where no action is possible or not considered to be appropriate. We also urge you to communicate with your children freely and regularly, and to stay engaged in their school and extra-curricular activities so that we may together ensure that all students have a safe and happy environment to achieve their full potential.