During National Anti-Bullying week, the theme was ‘Reach Out’. It is really important to reach out to help others who are being bullied. If you are being bullied, you should also feel confident to reach out to others for help. Catholic Social Teaching tells us that we need to work for Solidarity and Peace, depending on each other and working together for a peaceful world.
Our brilliant team of Year 6 peer mediators, the Squabble Squashers, led an assembly for KS1 and KS2 to explain the theme of the week. They wore blue clothes because blue is the symbolic colour of Anti-Bullying Week. Blue is a colour which represents the sadness people can feel when they are bullied, but it is also a calming colour representing peace and kindness. Everyone wore their odd socks to show that we are all different and unique, which is a good thing! Other activities throughout the week included making blue friendship bracelets with a partner out in the playground, creating beautiful collaborative art pieces to show our School values of Friendship, Respect and Unity, and trying hard to carry out 1,000 acts of kindness. A highlight of the week was a wonderful performance to Years 3,4 and 5 from Electric Umbrella, a local charity who create amazing, live interactive music experiences with learning-disabled people. The theme of the assembly was ‘There’s no such thing as normal’ and we were encouraged to sing like no one was listening, dance like no one was watching, laugh like no one listening and give like no one was counting, which involved a world record attempt for the most high fives in 1 minute. We’re not sure whether we officially broke the record, but we had lots of fun trying!
Daisy in Year 4 was inspired to write a kindness song for Anti-Bullying Week. She commented, “I wrote a poem for Anti-Bullying week. I think learning about Anti-Bullying week in school is really good because if someone was getting bullied and you didn’t want to say, then you could learn how to reach out and ask for help. I have never been bullied but I think it might make someone feel really sad.”
You can listen to Daisy’s song here: Video
Afterwards, our Squabble Squashers said:
“Anti-Bullying Week is a good time to make new friends and show teamwork with others. ” Eirin
“I think that we managed to reach out to children across the school and show kindness to one another. Amirah
“Anti-Bullying Week is important because bullying can affect people’s mental health and we want to make sure that everyone in our school gets a chance to make friends and feel safe and happy.” Elizabeth