Magistrate court may not seem like an obvious place to address high school bullying.

But after his teenage son was physically threatened and attacked, Canberra dad Ben (not his real name) decided a tough approach was necessary.

ABC is not identifying Ben in order to protect his son and the identity of the perpetrator.

Like many parents, Ben knew his son was having problems.

He said it started with things like “pushing, pushing” in the school hallways.

This started to escalate into insults and threats of further violence, so Ben went to the school as his first port of call for help.

They took some security measures but they soon failed.

Violence turns into after-school fight

Then one afternoon after school, Ben’s son called him distressed.

He told his father that he was chased by the perpetrator and surrounded by a group of teenagers at the nearby bus junction.

“He ran to get away from this person and the fight… and then it started again.”

The incident was reported to the police, who told the ABC they issued a formal warning to the perpetrator following their own investigation.

Ben wasn’t happy to leave things there.

Having already decided that the school’s temporary security measures alone were not sufficient, he decided to begin the process of issuing a personal protection order (PPO).

He said the procedure was easy and painless.

In this case, the judge decided that the defendant wanted his presence in court, so the case was initially adjourned.

While all parties attended the hearing at a later date, the ACT Education Directorate was also present to check the feasibility of the conditions.

Some of these conditions included conditions such as the perpetrator not making contact with the victim and remaining a certain distance away.

However, this distance may vary depending on factors such as stairwells, classrooms and lunch hours.

No data on exact numbers of PPOs in schools

When asked how many PPOs were issued in response to bullying, the directorate told the ABC this was data they did not have and they were not always notified when one was issued.

Issuing a PPO does not require the courts to make a determination regarding guilt.

They also don’t leave anyone with a criminal record.

They also only need to be offered to children over the age of 12, although sometimes this requirement can be circumvented by giving them to the child’s parent.

Ben described the process as a collaborative one and stated that it was an “appropriate response” provided no one was charged and no one was left with a permanent record.

“It was the courts and the judges who supported the school,” he explained.

“They enabled the school to advise the judge on how to proceed so everyone could be kept safe and continue to receive an education.”

And he said he wasn’t concerned about whether his actions were too harsh.

Lawyers may be involved

Some parents considering the PPO option will turn to the Legal Aid Act for advice and support during the court process.

Amy Begley, who heads the service’s early intervention area, said giving them the power to tackle bullying wasn’t exactly common practice, but certainly not rare either.

The question of whether they are effective is difficult to answer, he said.

But Ms. Begley highlighted a few points.

First, “the horse had already run away to some extent” because the violence had already occurred.

The second is that PPOs can only really be temporary because they must end at some point.

Sometimes, ACT’s Conflict Resolution Service will step in after a PPO has been issued to de-escalate the situation and tension between the young people and families involved.

Chief executive Melissa Haley said they often try to use mediation to move the matter out of the courts and into a more “restorative” space.

He said there are a few different ways CRS could approach the situation.

They may gather both teens into one room, or they may initially work with each individually to try to find the root cause of the problem.

Ms. Haley said often the cause of bullying is not what young people believe.

“We need to develop the skills of our youth to solve these problems,” he said.

“They need to have an ongoing relationship…they need to get back to the schoolyard.”

With it becoming widely known that bullying is on the rise in schools across the country, options like PPO may become more common.

But both Ms. Haley and Ms. Begley said they hoped parents would consider less punitive options, such as mediation.