Last Friday was the National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence. This day gives schools the chance to take action and empower young people to be part of the solution when addressing bullying in their school community. It provides an opportunity to focus on bullying and the changes we can all make to help create safer communities for everyone. This year all students from Kindy to year 12 discussed the issues around bullying and how we can build a stronger safer community here at Regents Park Christian School.
Here are some highlights from the day:
- Students in Years 5 and 6 joined a webinar by the Office of Esafety Commission and were asked questions about cyber bullying and how to deal with bullying situations. They were taught how to use filters, how to report online bullying and other skills to manage themselves when they are cyber bullied.
- A Year 7 class spent a double lesson going through the definitions of bullying, watching a video and then completing an activity where they classified different types of behaviours as either physical/verbal/social bullying or not bullying.
- Year 8 PDH class made digital “posters” to spread the message.
- A Year 8 Science class completed an activity based on scenarios that considered ethical online behaviour.
- Year 10 watched a video outlining the importance of good communication skills so that problems or issues that arise between people can be properly dealt with before it escalates to bullying. Students reflected on their time at school and had an honest open class discussion about bullying and how it has changed since year 7 – the ways that it has improved and the new challenges they face. Finally they completed a worksheet with a range of statements and the students had to decide where they sat on a range of issues relating to bullying. This again resulted in some really good discussions. The teacher was really impressed with the maturity and was encouraged by the way the class challenged each other’s beliefs in a respectful manner.
As a Christian school we want to take seriously the words of Jesus “to be known by our love for one another”. This is something we need to take action about every day in our words, speech and behaviours. Let’s continue to be like Christ and to value each person equally to make our community safe for everyone.
