Our Coatesville has a zero tolerance on bullying - we have systems in place to help reporting any bullying behaviour - and we used this week to help highlight those processes. We started with reminding the students to start with their KID POWERS - we went over some scenarios to help practice the words we would use in a situation where someone had wronged us, by letting them know they hurt us and giving them an opportunity to apologise:
Then we discussed what was the best way to respond in a situation. We used Tim and Sally to demonstrate:
Tim: Stop it, Sally, I don't like it when you talk to me like that. It makes me feel sad.
Sally: I'm sorry Tim, I didn't mean to make you feel sad. I promise it won't happen again.
Tim: Ok, Sally, I forgive you.
If the Sally had responded differently, then Tim should go to the teacher to get some help. We would like to empower the students to be problem solvers and learn conflict resolution skills to deal with minor disagreements and accidents.
Our 5 key messages for keeping everyone safe can be found in the May 15th newsletter. We ended the week with the annual PINK SHIRT DAY - be part of the movement towards making young people feel good about who they are.
Spreading Kindness
Another big focus this week was spreading kindness. As a Team, Tui completed a Kindness Challenge - they were split off into groups and challenged to write complements and kind words on strips of paper and then make the longest chain. They had to work as a team and ensure they did not repeat any complements. If they repeated one, we would stop the count there and tally up the compliments before - the winning team came up with 27 complements before they repeated and second place was hot on their heals at 24.
If you have any concerns around bullying behaviour towards your child, please ask them to speak to a teacher, or make a time to sit down with your child and the teacher to discuss your concerns. We take every complaint seriously and investigate any suggestions of bullying. We need your help to make sure that Coatesville School is a Bully Free Zone.