Peer and Digital Safety (PDS)

Why it matters

Bullying and digital risk behaviour are rarely reported at the moment they happen. By the time an incident reaches the guidance service it has usually been running for a while, and what is visible is the end of the process rather than its beginning.

Screening at class level changes what is visible. It surfaces the pattern - which classes, which forms, how widespread - rather than waiting for a single complaint.

When to use it

At class or year level once a term, and whenever school climate becomes a concern. These instruments are most useful read as a distribution, not as individual scores.

What it distinguishes

Face-to-face peer bullying from cyberbullying; problematic digital gaming from ordinary heavy use. Conflating them produces the wrong intervention.

Limits

A screening result is a signal about a class or a school, not a verdict about a student. Results carrying a risk indicator are handled directly by the guidance service rather than entering a queue.