Junior School News

On Wednesday, 7th August the Year 8 and 9 students attended a session on bullying.  This session was presented by a representative from Bully Zero – Australian Foundation.  The presenter went through a number of issues from social media, to verbal bullying, to being a bystander to bullying and even the new laws surrounding bullying.  Some recent cases of young people who had been bullied and had taken their own lives added to the ‘real cost’ of bullying.  The students listened intently and have, hopefully, taken away some information which can help them deal with bullying if it occurs to them or what they can do if they know someone who is being bullied.  Some of the main points were:

• If you are being bullied, tell someone (don’t try to put up with it)
• If you know someone who is being bullied, tell someone (even if that person has told you not to)
• Be an upstander not a bystander, step in and say something
• Report any inappropriate images to the social media site (eg Facebook, Instagram etc) they are meant to have it taken down within 48 hours of reporting it.  If after doing that it has still not been removed you can then report it to:  https://www.esafety.gov.au/reportcyberbullying
• Filming fights or taking photos of a fight and sending it on to someone else could attract the attention of the police and viewed as assault
• Social Media is not private – once you press send you’ve lost control (if sent to a friend they may send it to someone else or if you have a falling out with that friend they may use what you sent to them against you)
• Menacing, harassing or offending via a carriage service (social media) can lead to a three year sentence for anyone over 10 years of age.

The Junior School Team

Sharyn Campbell, Shane Maloney and Kathleen Fogarty