South Australian schools trial peer-support model under expanded Let's Stop Bullying program

Twenty South Australian secondary schools are piloting a peer-support extension to the national Let's Stop Bullying campaign, training senior students to identify and respond to early signs of social exclusion and low-level cyberbullying among younger cohorts. The trial, funded under the state's Wellbeing and Engagement Strategy, provides peer mentors with scripts for de-escalation conversations and clear referral pathways to school counsellors and wellbeing coordinators when incidents involve threats, sexual content or persistent targeting. Preliminary data from the first term indicates increased reporting of cyberbullying incidents by affected students, though participating schools have noted resource constraints in responding to the higher volume of disclosures. The trial will run for 12 months with evaluation by Flinders University.

Peer-led initiatives rely on young people recognising harm and feeling safe to disclose it, assumptions that do not hold in cases involving shame, coercion or fear of retaliation. Automated detection operating in the private channels where cyberbullying and abuse occur closes that gap. Guardii monitors direct-message exchanges across major platforms, identifying sustained targeting, escalation and coercive language that signal cyberbullying, grooming or sextortion. The platform surfaces a child in crisis to a parent, school or professional without waiting for self-report, enabling intervention even when a young person is unable or unwilling to seek help, and providing schools with the context needed to activate the referral pathways the South Australian peer-support model depends on.