National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence 2018

Taking a stand!

Friday the 16^th March was the eighth National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence. Australian schools stood united in their communities to imagine a world free from bullying and share their BIG ideas. Throughout roll call last week, students engaged in activities to help educate, build awareness and encourage students to take a stand together to stamp out bullying here at Corrimal High School.

Bullying is repeated verbal, physical, social or psychological behaviour that is harmful and involves the misuse of power by an individual or group towards one or more persons. It is understood that 1 in 4 Australian school students are exposed to bullying. Despite this statistic bullying isn't a normal part of growing up and should never be tolerated nor accepted.

We all agree that bullying is not ok, and we have the power and responsibility to do something about it. What we can do at our school about bullying;

1. Speak up if it is safe when you see bullying
2. Get an adult right away if it is not safe to speak up
3. Never join in if someone is being bullied
4. Be friendly to someone who has or is being bullied
5. Encourage someone who has been bullied to get help
6. Work with teachers, community and parents to deal with the problem of bullying
7. Speak out and encourage others to speak out about bullying.

On Friday 16^th, we held an important assembly to help strengthen the message that bullying is not accepted. During this assembly, we heard from our SRC leaders about the importance of speaking out. Students watched a short video from the Project "Speak out even if your voice shakes" and students also heard from our wonderful singers. To conclude the assembly all students stood together and read our school pledge against bullying;

I am a student against bullying and I will: 

• Speak up when I see bullying
• Reach out to others who are bullied 
• Tell someone when I see or hear bullying occur. 

We believe everyone deserves to feel safe at school, to be who they are, to be treated with respect and to have the chance to shine.

A poster competition was also run with our year 7 students. Thank you for all those students who participated in this competition and for the effort put in. Special congratulations to Emily Lloyd and Suzanne Abou Shalah for their outstanding efforts.

If parents or carers have any concerns about their child being bullied, it is essential that the school is notified so that the matter can be discussed and dealt with. For further information on bullying we advise all parents and carers to access the following links:

• https://bullyingnoway.gov.au/RespondingToBullying/Parents
• http://www.bullyfree.com/site/files/BullyFree_ParentGuide.pdf