When my daughter was just six years old, she became the target of bullying at school. As a parent, hearing that your child has been hurt day after day fills you with a mix of worry, anger, and helplessness. But what made these feelings even harder to deal with as a parent was how the school responded. We were met with silence, defensive looks, empty reassurances and no clear plan. For us there was no real communication, which felt like there was no urgency to make the pain my daughter was going through at school stop.

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“Just give it time… it will sort itself out,” the principal told us.

 

But when you’re a parent watching your child struggle with real hurt every day, time isn’t the answer. Action is.

As a teacher myself and someone who studies education, I felt frustrated and powerless. I couldn’t help but think: if I feel this lost how much harder must this be for parents who don’t know how schools work, or who don’t feel confident sitting in a principal’s office and telling a school leader their approach is not good enough. 

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I started doing some research and quickly discovered our experience was not unique. In fact, New Zealand has the second-highest rates of school bullying in the OECD. That’s not good enough. No parent should send their child to school wondering if they’ll be safe that day. And no teacher should be expected to manage it alone. This project was born from that experience with the hope that we can build better systems, better support, and better communication between schools and families.