Discussions have focused on fostering a culture of kindness and calling out behaviour that doesn’t tie-in with the school’s founding principle and ethos of benevolence. It has been a busy week, with dedicated tutor time, PSD sessions, assemblies delivered by Year 11 pupils to those in the Lower School, as well as guest speakers delivering anti-bullying workshops to pupils and staff.
Tutors delivered a presentation in dedicated sessions to their tutor groups, encouraging conversation around the topic and encouraging pupils to be the change they want to see. The sessions covered the different forms of bullying (cyber, physical, social or verbal) and ways in which pupils can reach out if they are being bullied or they witness bullying. If a pupil wishes to reach out about any form of bullying there are several people they can reach out to. Mrs Keevil and Ms Bosa (Assistant Heads), the Chaplaincy team, their Housemaster or Housemistress, Head of Year, Tutor, Matron, Peer Mentors or College Prefects. We also use the Tellmi app where things can be reported anonymously if a pupil doesn’t feel comfortable reaching out directly.
Members of Fifth Form (Year 11) delivered several assemblies to Lower School pupils (Year 7-8) specifically on bullying throughout the week.
Our team of librarians put together a selection of books on the theme of ‘Friendship in Fiction’ which covered all age ranges and were on display and available to borrow throughout the week.
We had several visiting speakers throughout the week. On Tuesday Rob Higgs, Anti-Bullying Speaker, delivered a training workshop to our student peer mentors about challenging unkind comments, empowering them to protect themselves and others from bullying.
On Friday, Julie Wilkinson from Brave the Rage delivered two talks – one to matrons and one to pupils in Third Form (Year 7) – looking at solutions to bullying, harassment, stress and anger. This included how to encourage a supportive House atmosphere, even when pupils think no one is watching, understanding ‘snitch culture’ and rebranding the concept and promoting active eavesdropping and dealing with potential conflict.
PSD sessions this week continued to look into supporting others in need, emotional intelligence, keeping a self-esteem journal, regulating emotions and dealing with angers and triggers as well as other important areas of wellbeing maintenance.
