Student Wellbeing
BULLYING NO WAY - National Week of Action (11th-15th August)
St Joseph's School's support and promotion of Bullying No Way - National Week of Action was a daily focus across each of the days in all learning spaces last week.
It provided an opportunity to demonstrate our commitment to bullying prevention and gave us an opportunity to connect with students, staff and school communities to implement workable solutions to prevent bullying both inside and outside in the school community. Students and teachers had a daily focus each morning to discuss and perform activities to bring to light the importance of being an up-stander to bullying that they witness, as well as providing strategies for what to do if they are the victim of bullying.
Wednesday's Daily Focus was to SPEAK UP AGAINST BULLYING (A great segway into our dress-up day!)
Students learnt that speaking up against bullying doesn’t mean getting into a fight. It means taking action in safe and supportive ways to help someone in need.
When you speak up, you become an up-stander—someone who chooses to help instead of watching from the sidelines. That could mean reporting what you saw, comforting someone after an incident, or encouraging others to do the right thing.
They learnt that bullying is everyone’s problem, and when even one person steps up, others follow. They learnt that their voice can break the silence and lead the way for real change and that they are never too young to lead by example.
Bully Zero Superhero Dress Up Day
Our "Bully Zero" Fundraiser Day asked students to dress up as a Super Hero, wear a cape or mask or to dress up as a person who is a super hero to them, such as a coach or teacher. We raised $105.60 to donate towards supporting bullying prevention work.
The message was clear : It takes a community to be brave and address bullying behaviours, within and beyond the school gate. Students need to be bold, be kind and speak up to support others being bullied, while those being bullied need to be assured that trusted adults are always there to support children and young people. Research shows that learning how to be kind to each other and report bullying is very important for reducing bullying within Australia.
Thank you to the teachers who went above and beyond to explicitly teach this important message across the week and who embed these messages across everything they do week in week out!
For more information about Bullying No Way Week and bullying prevention, visit the Bullying No Way website.
Warm Regards,
Jenny Todd
(Student Wellbeing Leader)