Last Friday marked the National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence, an Australia-wide initiative designed to get students and teachers talking about how to stop bullying for good.
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All of Junee’s schools were keen participants in the day, holding special events and workshops to promote healthy and happy relationships in the schoolyard.
At Junee High School, students made a chain of nearly 100 anti-bullying messages written on colourful paper.
Principal Scott Frazier said the exercise was all about promoting respectful language and empathy in the school.
“The students wrote messages like ‘choose your words wisely’, ‘be an upstander’, and ‘don’t be silenced, speak out when needed’,” Mr Frazier said.
“We also focused on giving students the skills to deal with bullies using the three Ds – distracting the bully, directly speak up, and delegating by going to someone for help.”
St Joseph’s principal Jane Addison said her students also got in on the brainstorming action, coming up with their own ideas about how to conquer bullying.
“Students worked in age groups and came up with some resolutions and some great ideas to assist with bullying,” Ms Addison said.
“Then, we had an assembly where the students presented all of their great ideas to us.”
At Junee North Public School, principal Kay Thurston said Friday was another opportunity to raise awareness for the school’s ‘Bounce Back’ program, which is all about how to minimise bullying.
“We created a pledge wall, and each class did an activity where they signed and agreed to all the things they would do to prevent any bullying in our school and assist anyone being bullied,” Ms Thurston said.
“All of the children also got a stop bullying bracelet as another little symbol for them to be wearing around the playground.”
Junee Public School were also keen participants in last Friday’s day of action; principal Tracy Delaney said her students tapped into their artistic talents to make some colourful banners promoting strong anti-bullying messages.
“With last Friday being a National Day of Action Against Bullying, our students engaged in lessons with a focus on positive behaviour towards others,” Ms Delaney said.
“Our positive behaviour for learning values of responsibility, respect and success underpinned these lessons, and our students also designed banners to be displayed in front of the school, demonstrating to our community that we have zero tolerance for bullying.”