Anti-Bullying Policy Annual Review Checklist for Irish Schools

Every Board of Management now carries a recurring, calendar-year obligation to review its school's Bí Cineálta policy — not just adopt it once and file it away. For principals, Board members and Designated Liaison Persons (DLPs), this means a yearly cycle of stakeholder consultation, two Department-mandated appendices, formal Board approval, and publication steps that all need to be evidenced. This article sets out what the annual review actually requires, who needs to be involved, and gives you a practical, step-by-step checklist to work through — plus how the bullying-behaviour update fits into your ordinary Board meetings throughout the year.

This is written for principals, Board of Management members and DLPs who need a clear, working reference for the annual review cycle — not a substitute for reading the Bí Cineálta procedures themselves or seeking advice on a specific case.

What the annual review requires — and its legal basis

The legal basis for all of this is Circular 0055/2024, issued by the Department of Education, which introduced Bí Cineálta: Procedures to Prevent and Address Bullying Behaviour for Primary and Post-Primary Schools. Bí Cineálta replaces the 2013 Anti-Bullying Procedures, and its requirements came into effect from the start of the 2025/2026 school year. Many schools still refer informally to their "Anti-Bullying Policy" during this transition, but the governing document is now the Bí Cineálta policy.

Under the procedures, a school's Bí Cineálta policy and its implementation must be formally reviewed by the Board of Management — not simply updated by a member of staff. The review has to draw on input from the whole school community, and the Board must complete a specific Department template (Appendix E) to confirm that every aspect of the review has actually taken place. This is a governance readiness matter as much as a policy one: the Board is accountable for showing the review happened properly, not just that the policy document exists.

Oide, the Department's support service for school leadership and professional learning, provides implementation supports and guidance materials for schools working through Bí Cineálta (oide.ie), which is a useful reference point if your Board or staff need practical help interpreting a specific step.

When to complete the review

The Bí Cineálta policy must be reviewed each calendar year, or sooner where the Board of Management determines that a review is warranted — for example, following a serious incident, a material change in circumstances, or a pattern of concerns that suggests the current policy or strategies are not working as intended. Calendar year, not school year, is the operative timeframe the Department uses, so it's worth diarising the review date independently of the September–June school year cycle to avoid it slipping.

In practice, most schools align the annual review with a specific ordinary Board meeting each year and record the review date clearly in the policy document and in Appendix E, so there is no ambiguity about when the last full review took place.

Who must be involved in the review

Bí Cineálta is explicit that the annual review is a whole-school-community exercise, not a task completed by the principal or DLP alone. Input must be sought from:

Board of Management — ultimate approval and oversight
Students — including, where appropriate, through the student council or age-appropriate consultation methods
Staff — teaching and, where relevant, non-teaching staff
Parents — directly or through the Parents' Association where one exists

The review should capture how each group was consulted (survey, meeting, questionnaire, focus group, student council discussion, and so on), because Appendix E specifically asks the Board to record the consultation method used for parents, students and staff.

The annual review checklist: a practical step-by-step guide

Use this as a working checklist for the Board and principal to track the annual review from start to finish.

Confirm the review date and trigger. Note whether this is the standard calendar-year review or an early review triggered by a serious incident or material change.
Gather evidence of stakeholder input. Collect records showing how the Board, staff, parents and students were each consulted — survey results, meeting minutes, student council notes, or parent communications.
Review incidents recorded during the year. Pull together the bullying-behaviour incident records maintained since the last review, including form and type of bullying, location, engagement dates with students and parents, and any engagement with external services.
Assess the effectiveness of prevention and response strategies. Consider whether the strategies set out in the policy were actually implemented, and whether they worked — this is a specific question the Board must address under Appendix E.
Identify any possible gaps or areas for improvement. Where the review surfaces a possible gap — for example, in how incidents were recorded, or in how parents were kept informed — note it as a suggested next action for manual review by the Board, rather than treating the checklist itself as the fix.
Update the policy where needed. Amend the Bí Cineálta policy and, if applicable, the student-friendly version, to reflect anything identified in step 5.
Complete Appendix E in full. This Department template confirms that all aspects of the annual review have been completed and must be filled in as part of the review, not treated as an optional add-on.
Secure formal Board of Management approval. The Board must formally approve the reviewed (and, where relevant, updated) policy, and this approval should be minuted.
Complete Appendix F and notify the patron. Appendix F gives notice that the annual review has taken place; the patron must also be notified separately that the review has occurred.
Publish and notify. Make the written notification that the review is complete available to school personnel, publish it (or the Appendix F notice) on the school website — or otherwise make it accessible to parents and pupils on request — and provide it to the Parents' Association where one exists. Keep the signed review minutes and completed appendices on file as your evidence trail.

Treat this as a readiness snapshot rather than a compliance guarantee: completing the checklist evidences that the process has been followed, but the Board retains responsibility for judging whether the review was substantively adequate.

What the principal reports at each ordinary BOM meeting

The annual review is not the only recurring obligation. At every ordinary meeting of the Board of Management, the principal must present a bullying-behaviour update. This update should include:

The total number of new bullying-behaviour incidents reported since the last meeting
The total number of incidents currently ongoing
The total number of incidents reported since the start of the school year
Where incidents have occurred since the last meeting, a verbal report covering trends and patterns, the form and type of bullying involved, location, the strategies used, and any wider prevention strategies being considered

Importantly, this update must not contain personal or identifying information about individual students. It's designed to inform Board-level discussion about the overall effectiveness of the school's approach, not to turn Board meetings into case reviews. Boards should ensure this update is minuted each time it's presented, since Appendix E later asks whether the Board received and minuted the update at every ordinary meeting over the calendar year.

Connecting the anti-bullying review into the wider policy audit

The Bí Cineálta annual review doesn't sit in isolation. It's one of several recurring policy review and publication obligations that Boards of Management are expected to track alongside child protection, admissions, health and safety, and other statutory or Department-mandated policies. Schools that treat each policy review as a one-off task, tracked in a different folder or by a different staff member, tend to find gaps only when a parent, patron or Inspectorate query surfaces them.

Building the Bí Cineálta review into a wider policy audit rhythm — where review dates, stakeholder consultation evidence, Board approvals and publication status are tracked consistently across all policies — makes it easier to answer a simple question at any point in the year: which policies are current, reviewed and evidenced, and which need attention next.

This is the kind of structured record-keeping that Edvance is built to support: helping schools organise policy, board, finance, publication and inspection readiness workflows in one place, so a Board can see at a glance where the Bí Cineálta review — and every other policy review — stands, without guaranteeing compliance outcomes or replacing the Board's own judgement.

When bullying becomes a child protection concern

Not every bullying incident stays within the scope of the Bí Cineálta policy. Where bullying behaviour results in significant physical or emotional harm, or is persistent and severe, it must be addressed under the school's Child Protection Procedures rather than — or in addition to — the Bí Cineálta policy. This means the DLP should be involved, and the matter handled through the school's established child protection reporting route.

If there is any doubt about whether a bullying incident has crossed into child protection territory, the appropriate step is to contact Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, for guidance. Boards and principals should not treat this as a judgement call to make informally — where uncertainty exists, escalate for manual review rather than assuming the Bí Cineálta policy alone covers it.

FAQs

How often must a school's Bí Cineálta policy be reviewed? At least once every calendar year, or sooner if the Board of Management determines an earlier review is warranted — for example, following a serious incident or a material change in circumstances.

Who has to be consulted as part of the annual review? The whole school community: the Board of Management, students, staff and parents. Appendix E specifically asks how each group was consulted.

What is the difference between Appendix E and Appendix F? Appendix E is the internal Department template the Board completes to confirm that every aspect of the annual review has been carried out. Appendix F is the notice used to tell the school community that the annual review has taken place, and can be published on the school website once the review is complete.

What does the principal have to report to the Board at every meeting? A bullying-behaviour update covering the number of new, ongoing and year-to-date incidents, plus a verbal report on trends, forms, locations and strategies where incidents occurred since the last meeting — without identifying individual students.

When does a bullying incident become a child protection matter? When it results in significant physical or emotional harm, or becomes persistent and severe. In these cases it must be handled under the school's Child Protection Procedures, and the school should contact Tusla if there is any doubt.

Getting the annual review right is about having a clear, evidenced process the Board can stand over — not just a completed form. If your school is looking for a more structured way to track policy reviews, Board approvals, publication status and evidence across the whole school year, book a governance readiness demo to see how Edvance helps schools organise policy, board, finance, publication and inspection readiness workflows in one structured platform.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How often must a school's Bí Cineálta policy be reviewed?

At least once every calendar year, or sooner where the Board of Management determines that an earlier review is warranted.

Who has to be consulted as part of the annual review?

The whole school community: the Board of Management, students, staff and parents. Appendix E asks how each group was consulted.

What is the difference between Appendix E and Appendix F?

Appendix E records that the annual review has been completed. Appendix F is the notice used to tell the school community that the review has taken place.

What does the principal have to report to the Board at every meeting?

The principal reports new, ongoing and year-to-date bullying-behaviour incidents, plus trends, forms, locations and strategies where incidents occurred since the last meeting.

When does a bullying incident become a child protection matter?

Where it results in significant physical or emotional harm, or is persistent and severe, it must be handled under the school's Child Protection Procedures.