Bully busters host school training day
ORMISTON Bolingbroke Academy (OBA) in Runcorn this month welcomed students from other schools Runcorn as it hosted a Princess Diana anti-bullying ambassador training day.
Six schools from Halton and surroundings including Ormiston Horizon Academy, The Heath, St Chad’s, Sandymoor, Saints Peter And Paul Catholic College and Beaumont Collegiate Academy joined OBA as it partnered with the charity to pro- mote the message that every young person has the power to change the world.
Eleven OBA students volunteered to join the academy’s team of antibullying ambassadors who had previously been trained, and all the students engaged in team building and self-esteem exercises designed to equip them to help their school peers.
Workshops took place through the day educating students to identify the causes of bullying, the ● impact, solutions and how best to support anyone going through it.
An OBA spokeswoman said the day’s overriding message ‘every young person has the power to change the world’ and the key themes were kindness, compassion, service to others, leadership, innovation, selflessness and ‘ the value of doing good when no-one is watching’.
The teachers from each school were also given training on the legal implications of bullying and the role they have along with parents in eradicating bullying in all schools.
Amanda Noon, who leads OBA’s ‘Every Child Matters’ programme, said: “I was so proud to host the event and be in the room with so many inspirational students who were empowered to make such a positive impact in their school community to nurture and support.
“The final part of the training involved the students creating an action plan for the anti-bullying ambassadors to follow this year and I am very excited to see this being rolled out over the weeks and months ahead.”
Ewan Jago, OBA head boy, said: “I was honoured to take part in the antibullying ambassador training with the Diana Award. It’s vital that we are taught to challenge bullying in schools.
“Nobody should ever be made to feel unaccepted by others and by having anti-bullying ambassadors we can ensure that nobody will.”