Dear Parents and Carers
We have been promoting Anti-Bullying fortnight over the past two weeks and will continue this through next week. Much of the work has taken place during tutor time, assemblies and via guest speakers and more is happening next week. I have spoken with other schools about their work in this area as the willingness of people to say very unpleasant things to each other, and about each other, seems to be on the rise in our society. Look at TV, Parliament, the press and many other areas and there is no shortage of people having a go at each other. And that is before the lid is lifted on social media which seems to be a free for all. This impacts in schools and I would say one of the very long list of negative Covid/lockdown impacts is how kids talk to each other, about one another and how able they are to manage this. Why this is the case who knows, but one thing is for sure, the more time kids spend in the wild west of the internet, whether via headsets on their Xbox or via social media, the worse this could become and this is why anti-bullying initiatives have never been more important.
One thing did occur to me when I watched one of these sessions though. Pretty much every child understands the messages and nods vigorously as the messages are delivered but I have a horrible feeling they all believe it is something everybody else should take note of and they don’t associate any of these behaviours with themselves. That’s not to say that everybody is being unkind to one another, far from it, but the purpose of these messages is to reflect on our own language and habits. Of course, online the impact of comments can’t be seen. Whatever is said or typed just goes out there and the author of these remarks may never know how the receiver is hurt by them, is sick of them, cries because of them and how often they might receive these kinds of messages. It’s just too easy to fall into bad habits and as a consequence some students’ lives are made miserable just because they don’t want to conform to the demands of others in how they act, dress or choose to live their lives.
So, through anti-bullying fortnight, it is for all of us to reflect on what we say and how we say it. For students they must consider the potential impact of their words on others whether online, in person or in discussion with others. For adults we must consider how we role model tolerance and use kind language, how we teach students how to demonstrate respect and how vigilant we are at home and in the classrooms to all comments designed to belittle or embarrass others because they are “different”. Adults must set examples and intervene when kids get it wrong, and whilst we all want to trust our kids, they are kids and subsequently do often get things wrong – this is just another form of learning, but a really vital one.
Best wishes
Andy Perry
Head Teacher