Anti- Bullying Week (November 13th to November 17th)
Good afternoon to our parents. Next week marks the start of our annual anti bullying week. This is an awareness initiative that we have undertaken for the past nine years. The week is designed to draw the student’s attention to all aspects of bullying behaviour including identification of bullying behaviour, impacts of bullying and what steps to take if you are being bullied. Each year we concentrate on a different type of bullying.
This year we are going to focus on bullying associated with LGBTQIA+
As last week was Stand Up Awareness Week in the school where we celebrated LGBTQIA+ in our school community, we felt it was fitting that this week, we focused on raising awareness about homophobic bullying in schools.
It is shocking that one in five young LGBTQIA+ people face bullying and that 76% of LGBTQIA+ students feel unsafe at school.
It is important that St Munchin’s College, as a school community, take a stand against homophobic, bi-phobic and transphobic bullying.
Throughout the week we will have a number of activities taking place, as follows:
Monday 13th November
Tutor time – Below is the link to a short video of an Irish teenager discussing his experiences of homophobic bullying. This video will be shown at tutor time on Monday morning.
https://www.rte.ie/news/2020/1120/1179203-drogheda-teen-bullying/
Tuesday 14th November
Anti-bullying role plays with 1st years. 1st year students will take part in roleplays throughout the day in the Assembly Hall. The roleplays will be centred around homophobia and other bullying scenarios.
Friday 17th November
Tutor time – The link below is to a short video on standing up to Homophobic bullying in the school community. This video will be shown at tutor time on Friday morning.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrJxqvalFxM
Activities
There will be Art and English competitions throughout the week in the Junior classes also.
Kind Regards
SMC Anti-Bullying Team
Bullying in school or indeed in any setting is devastating, not only for the child involved (the victim) but also for their family. The thoughts of a parent having to send their child into a building, day in day out, and have the worry that they are being bullied, is torturous. No child, indeed, no person, should have to experience bullying. Unfortunately, wherever you have a gathering of people, you will have the potential for bullying behaviour.
What we want in our school, is for the child who is receiving the hassle to come forward and tell us, or tell you as the parent. Once we know, we can deal with it.
Our aim is not to punish anyone (initially). Rather, it is to ensure that the victim feels supported and heard, while simultaneously explaining to the perpetrator, the impact that their words and actions can have on another person. We seek to help them to understand that bullying behaviour is unacceptable in any walk of life.
Our boys will leave our care in a few years’ time and will take their place in the world. We want to know that, as a school, we have done right by them, and by that we mean, that we have taught them life skills
i.e. if you are being bullied, you report it, and you keep reporting it, until someone listens and the bullying stops.
If you are perpetrating bulling behaviour towards another person, when you are pulled up on that behaviour, stop.
None of us are perfect, we are all fallible in some way. The key is to learn from our mistakes and become better people because of that learning journey.
A big thank you to Ms. Deirdre Collins and to the antibullying team, who work so hard on a daily basis to create a safe, happy and comfortable school for our boys. The dedication exemplified by Ms. Collins’ and the team is outstanding. The time invested daily, on detecting, investigating and interviewing students, is immense, and we are all very grateful to each and every one of them.
Have a lovely weekend,
David Quilter Lorraine Shiels