BULLYING NO WAY - National Week of Action (11th-15th August)

Proudly supporting Bullying No Way: National Week of Action

This year St Joseph's School will again be participating in the Bullying No Way: National Week of Action, 11 to 15 August 2025.

Bullying No Way Week is a commitment being made by thousands of schools and supporters across the country. It provides an opportunity to demonstrate our commitment to bullying prevention. It gives us an opportunity to connect with students, staff and school communities to implement workable solutions to prevent bullying.

The theme for this year's campaign is .....

Be Bold. Be Kind. Speak Up.

It takes a community to be brave and address bullying behaviours, within and beyond the school gate. Students can be bold, kind and speak up to support others being bullied. While trusted adults are there to support children and young people, learning how to be kind to each other and report bullying is very important for reducing bullying within Australia.

This Bullying No Way Week, we’re asking students to be bold and say something, be kind and support someone and be proud to speak up against bullying.

For more information about Bullying No Way Week and bullying prevention, visit the Bullying No Way website.

In each year level, the students will explicitly study bullying prevention strategies including:

Daily Messages, Videos and Mini-Activities conducted each day during Morning Circle Time focusing on:

Day 1. Be Bold: You have the power to help
- Being bold doesn’t mean putting yourself in danger – it means choosing to do what’s right. Standing up shows others that bullying is not accepted.
Day 2. Be Kind: Small actions make a big impact
-Kindness builds connection, and connection helps stop bullying before it starts.
Day 3. Speak Up: Speak up against bullying
-When you speak up, you become an upstander – someone who chooses to help instead of watching from the sidelines.
Day 4. Think before you post or speak
-The words we use can build someone up or tear them down. That’s why it’s so important to think before we speak, type or post.
Day 5. Together, we can stop bullying – a whole of community approach
-The best way to stop bullying is by working together. That means students, teachers, families, and friends standing up, speaking out, and supporting each other.
GET YOUR COSTUME READY for next Wednesday 13th August!!

Students may choose to wear a Superhero Costume OR wear FREE DRESS with a symbol, such as a cape, mask or badge. Students can also obtain a mask to decorate before the day from their class teachers or attached

Students may also take part in activities to explore the theme of being brave and being an up-stander against bullying behaviours and also a range of strategies to protect themselves from online bullying behaviours.

If you have concerns that your child is being bullied, please contact your child's class teacher as the first point of contact, Monica or myself. If you believe the behaviour constitutes a crime, or is a serious incident of cyberbullying, please refer to the Bullying No Way website for information on how to report to other authorities and access wellbeing help.

Important Conversations to have with your child around the topic of BULLYING

By working collaboratively within our community, we can collectively help reduce bullying.

Families play an important role in helping children understand bullying and know how to respond to it.

If your child tells you about things at school, or you observe something in public that involves conflict or bullying, take the opportunity to talk about what bullying is.

You can learn more about what defines bullying at bullyingnoway.gov.au.

Questions you could ask:

· What do you think bullying is?

· Have you seen it? How did you feel?

· Have you ever felt scared at school because of bullying?

· As well as me, who are the other adults you would talk to when it comes to things like bullying?

· Have you or your friends left other kids out on purpose? Do you think that was bullying? Why or why not?

· Have you ever tried to help someone who is being bullied? What happened? What would you do if it happens again?

Remind your child that bullying is never okay and discuss how they can respond safely if they experience or witness it.

Encourage them to seek help from a trusted adult and keep seeking support if needed.

By promoting open communication, we empower children to stand up against bullying and create a safer environment where everyone can feel that they belong.

For more information visit bullyingnoway.gov.au.

We have begun our first groups.....SEASONS FOR GROWTH - Learning to live with Change and Loss!

This term, we have commenced our first intake of ten Year 3/4 and 5/6 students in our "Seasons for Growth" Children and Young People's program. It will run as an 8-session education program called Seasons for Growth, which will continue each Friday until the last Friday of Term 3 (Friday, 19th September). The students thoroughly enjoyed our first session on Autumn, that showed that life changes just like the seasons, even when we don't want it to sometimes! They loved their beautiful journals and are very excited for the next session this week. As their trained companion, my role is to facilitate and guide them through the learning.

Warm Regards,

Jenny Todd

(Student Wellbeing Leader)

jennyt@sjsorrento.catholic.edu.au

Community News

Meet the NBL26 Phoenix roster players as Family Day returns on Sunday, August 24 at State Basketball Centre.

Please click on the link for more details.