Anti-bullying weekatArdee Community School
Anti-Bullying Week was planned with great gusto to coincide with the great gusts of Storm Ophelia but the wind didn’t deter the students of Ardee Community School and the posters and messages that popped up around the school only reinforced the message that bullying was out and kindness was in. That was the theme of the week, ‘Creating Kindness in Our School’. The main event of the week saw Stella O’Malley, author and psychologist take to the Dalton Room to deliver a very practical talk to the first and second years.
The first group listened carefully and learned about concepts such as the bystander effect; how we all need to have a top dog in any grouping, how teenagers are obsessed with popularity or how in any group of people, there will be 7-8% discovering or knowing that they are gay.
The second group of first years were very engaged with the talk, interacting and learning about famous events that have come to represent the ‘ bystander effect’ such as the Raymonds Act and the atrocities of the Holocaust. Instead of being a bystander, we are encouraged to be an Upstander and stand up against meanness or bullying of any kind. There will always be charismatic leaders and those who are kind have the best impact and that impact is no less when these ring leaders are cruel but impactful in a very different but hurtful way.
Our speaker pointed out that we have all been party to bullying in our time, in of our four roles: a bully, a victim, a bystander or an upstander. The question is which way do we choose to turn? Stella quoted Dietrich Bonhoeffer when he famously said, ‘Silence in the face of evil is evil itself ’. The concluding message was simply that kindness is key. Referencing the Dalai Lama, Stella O’Malley quoted, ‘My religion is simple, my religion is kindness’. Food for thought for our students as the talk concluded. Senior students will get a chance to see highlights of the talk from video footage taken by Ms. Finnegan.
Stella O’Malley stayed around to talk to parents in the evening. They too were very impressed with the practical insights which were geared towards their worries and concerns and how to help their children in different ways.
In other class activities to embrace newly learned concepts, we had essay writing on the Bystander Effect, discussion and debate on becoming the Upstander and poetry writing. In addition, to really embed the force of kindness, ideas were collected to put together a Code of Kindness which will be inserted in the new Code of Behaviour currently being drawn up.
Other talks to include aspects of bullying and cyber-bullying are planned to coincide with related events later in the school year. Therefore, it is safe to say the force of Storm Ophelia has nothing on the new front of kindess pushing its way through Ardee Community School, an atmosphere making its mark in the kindest of ways!