--- title: "Bullying at school: what lawyers can do for the family, the school and the accused" description: Learn how schools and families should respond to bullying, including legal options, investigations, privacy, intervention orders and enrolment decisions. image: https://44068544.fs1.hubspotusercontent-ap1.net/hubfs/44068544/5199.avif --- [![This is the FAL Lawyers home page logo](https://44068544.fs1.hubspotusercontent-ap1.net/hub/44068544/hubfs/Untitled%20design%20(8).png?width=675&height=338&name=Untitled%20design%20(8).png "This is the FAL Lawyers home page logo")](https://www.fal-lawyers.com.au) [![Untitled design (15)](https://44068544.fs1.hubspotusercontent-ap1.net/hub/44068544/hubfs/Untitled%20design%20(15).png?width=100&height=50&name=Untitled%20design%20(15).png "Untitled design (15)")](https://www.fal-lawyers.com.au) - About Us Show submenu for About Us - [About FAL/Values](https://fal-lawyers.com.au/about-fal) - [Community](https://fal-lawyers.com.au/community) - [Expertise](https://fal-lawyers.com.au/expertise) Show submenu for Expertise - 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But when a school is not acting, when a... 08.10.2026 - - - - ![Peter Francis](https://44068544.fs1.hubspotusercontent-ap1.net/hub/44068544/hubfs/Untitled%20design%20(34).png?width=50&name=Untitled%20design%20(34).png) Peter Francis Most bullying is resolved without lawyers, and should be. But when a school is not acting, when a school is unsure how far it can go, or when a child is accused and the family thinks the accusation is wrong, legal advice can change the outcome. The lawyer’s role differs for each of the three. **For the bullied student’s family** - **Put the school on notice.** A letter setting out the incidents, the school’s duty of care and its own policy, and asking for an investigation, a safety plan and a written response by a set date. Notice matters. The cases show that once a school knows of a specific risk to a specific child, more is required of it. - **Build the record.** A dated log of incidents, messages, photographs, medical and counselling notes, and every communication with the school. A request for the school’s own records about the child. - **Escalate.** Beyond the principal: the regional office and Department for a government school, the governing body for an independent school, the diocese or system authority for a Catholic school, and the schools regulator. For online bullying, a complaint to the eSafety Commissioner. Where the bullying targets race, disability, sex or another protected attribute, a discrimination complaint. - **Police and intervention orders.** Help with a police report where there has been an assault or threat, and with an application for a personal safety intervention order where school measures have failed. - **A claim.** Advice on a negligence claim where the child has suffered a recognised psychiatric or physical injury, and on time limits. **Reaching the other child’s parents** Families often want to write to the other parents, and ask the school for their address. The school should not hand it over. Privacy law generally prevents a school disclosing one family’s details to another without consent, unless a law or court order requires it. There are three practical routes: ask the school to forward a letter; let the court process and police deal with service if an intervention order is sought; or use a subpoena if proceedings are on foot. Whether to write at all is a separate question. Parents are not generally liable for a child’s wrongs, so a lawyer’s letter to them has little legal force. It can inflame matters and invites a complaint in return. The effective levers are the school and, in serious cases, the court.   **For the school** - **Before anything happens.** Review the policy against what the school actually does. A school is judged by its own policy, so a policy that promises more than staff deliver is a liability. Train staff. Set up a register. - **When a complaint arrives.** Advise on a fair investigation, interim protection for the complainant that does not prejudge the outcome, record keeping, and what can be said to each family within privacy limits. - **Writing to the aggressor’s parents.** Yes, once conduct is found, and it should come from the principal with the lawyer settling the text. It should describe the conduct found, identify the policy and enrolment terms breached, state the consequence imposed, and say plainly what will follow if it is repeated. Describe conduct. Avoid labels. - **Writing to the target’s parents.** The school’s lawyers act for the school and cannot advise the other side. But the school itself should tell the family what it has done, what the safety plan is, how to escalate a complaint, and that they are free to take their own advice. A family that is kept informed is less likely to conclude that a lawyer is the only way to be heard. - **Serious steps.** Advice on suspension and expulsion process, disability discrimination risk where the aggressor has a diagnosis, giving effect to any intervention order, and notifying the insurer. **The enrolment agreement** A non-government school can and should make compliance with its policies a term of enrolment, and reserve the right to suspend or end the enrolment for serious breach. A rigid zero tolerance clause, under which any finding of bullying means removal, is a mistake. It leaves no room for proportion, it sits badly with the procedural fairness required of registered schools and with discrimination law, it may be challenged as an unfair term in a standard form contract, and it sets a standard the school will be held to when it does not expel. A discretion is better:   *The Student must comply with the School’s policies as published from time to time, including its bullying prevention policy. If, after a fair investigation in which the Student and the Parents have had a reasonable opportunity to respond, the School finds that the Student has engaged in bullying, the School may take any action provided for in its policies, including suspension and, in serious or repeated cases, termination of the enrolment.*   Government schools have no enrolment contract. Their powers come from Ministerial Order 1125.   **For the student accused** Allegations of bullying are sometimes wrong. They can arise from a friendship that has broken down, from mutual conflict described by one side, or from a dispute between parents. A lawyer for the accused student can: - **Insist on fairness.** Particulars of what is alleged, a real opportunity to respond, a support person, a decision-maker who has not prejudged the matter, and findings based on evidence. - **Test the label.** Was the conduct repeated? Was there an imbalance of power? Or was it a single incident, or conflict between equals? - **Raise what the school has missed.** Counter-allegations, provocation, disability, and whether the school followed its own policy. - **Challenge the outcome.** Internal review, the appeal rights that attach to expulsion from a government school, the contract in a non-government school, and a defence to any intervention order application. - **What happened?** What exactly, when, where, and who saw it? Interview each child separately. - **What supports it?** Messages, CCTV, incident reports, attendance and medical records. - **Is it bullying?** Is it repeated? Is there a power imbalance? Or is it mutual conflict? - **What is the history?** In both directions, including earlier complaints by or against either child. - **What is the effect?** On the complainant, and what do staff and parents observe? - **Is there another explanation?** Any reason the account may be mistaken or exaggerated? **Investigating fairly: the questions to ask** The standard is the balance of probabilities, with more care the more serious the allegation. The finding should be one of four: bullying substantiated; conflict that is not bullying; not substantiated; or unfounded. Each family should be told the outcome, and the reasons should be recorded.     *This article is general information, not legal advice. The sample clause is illustrative and must be settled for the particular school.*     Interested to find out more? Feel free to contact us today. [Contact Us](https://fal-lawyers.com.au/contact) Related Blogs #### Smart Glasses in the Schoolyard -... Aug 17, 2026 Peter Francis [Read More](https://fal-lawyers.com.au/latest-insights/smart-glasses-in-the-schoolyard-what-your-schools-exposure-looks-like-if-you-do-nothing) ![](https://44068544.fs1.hubspotusercontent-ap1.net/hubfs/44068544/glasses%20stock%20ohoto%20article.jpeg) #### Understanding Intervention Orders... Oct 7, 2025 Lauren Kelly [Read More](https://fal-lawyers.com.au/latest-insights/understanding-intervention-orders-ivos-why-families-and-schools-need-expert-legal-guidance) ![](https://44068544.fs1.hubspotusercontent-ap1.net/hubfs/44068544/656823c88a2df92ee40c290d_How%20do%20I%20revoke%20an%20intervention%20order%20in%20Victoria.jpg) #### Victorian Student Data Breach: A... 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