News
Anti-Bullying Week - November 2017
Posted On: 23 November 2017
Last week (13th – 17th November 2017) was a busy week for the children across all year groups, as we welcomed many visitors to our school who, alongside their children, took part in many activities as part of Anti-Bullying Week.
Children in the Foundation Stage used scenario cards to help them discuss ways in which they can recognise bullying behaviour and the importance of telling an adult if something is upsetting them. They created ‘Helping Hand’ paintings using their handprints and took part in teambuilding activities. In Year 1, the children looked at different bullying scenarios, including examples of verbal and physical bullying, and then shared ideas on how to solve the problems. The children remembered that if somebody is doing something they do not like, they must start by shouting, “Stop it! I don’t like it!” followed by sharing their concerns with an adult (in school if this is where the incident has occurred). The children spent time writing compliments on hearts that they decorated and put into a basket, making anti-bullying badges and creating friendship bracelets. Pupils used enlarged key pictures to write ‘the key to being a good friend’. For pupils in Year 2, the focus for their anti-bullying session was ‘bystanders’. Bystanders are people who see bullying happen, but do not do anything to help the victim. They spoke about how everyone can become ‘upstanders’ and help anybody they see being a victim of bullying. Afterwards, the children created ‘upstanding superheroes’, as well as making bracelets, reminding them to be a good friend to everyone.
Year 3 students looked at examples of bullying and devised role-play scenes to help them empathise with those who were involved in the situation. With their parents, they suggested ways to address the problem and ways in which they could help, whether it meant telling an adult, addressing the problem with the bully or encouraging their friend to walk away. Children in Year 4 created anti-bullying superheroes and chatted about what special skills and powers they would like to have in order for them to stop bullying from happening, and pupils in Year 5 created posters and t-shirts with anti-bullying slogans.
Together with their parents, Year 6 students created an anti-bullying video, designed to show the impact that bullying can have on people, as well as ways in which to encourage a positive mind-set and a sense of unity in our fight against bullying behaviour. On Tuesday, the pupils were treated to a Virtual Reality workshop where they donned VR headsets and were fully immersed in a bullying situation. This generated interesting discussions about how to recognise when bullying is happening, the impact that bullying has on people and the role that we all have to play in trying to stamp out bullying behaviour. This was a new and unique way to address this topic with the children; one that we hope will have a positive and lasting impact on the pupils.
A massive thank you to the large number of parents that joined their children in the workshops and activities; your participation and willingness to engage in these sessions demonstrates a unanimous commitment to eliminating bullying.
