Today is the National Day of Action against bullying and violence. This year the theme for this day of action is “Kindness Culture". It is a day we have spent focusing on what kindness is and how we show it. We have challenged our students to develop a culture of kindness and to identify the acts of kindness they can carry out to show kindness to all those around them at school; their friends, their classmates, their teachers. We want to celebrate acts of kindness and work together to build a positive and supportive culture where if we raise each other up we can all achieve.
Kindness is an important characteristic in every individual, regardless of age. Kindness is defined as the qualities of being friendly, generous and considerate. These characteristics are important for all students to adhere to — in order to make new friends, to help new students feel included and for students to feel good about themselves, thus building confidence. Acting with kindness is a wonderful virtue and is a great way for students to showcase consideration for others. Kindness plays an important role in bullying prevention.
At Sutton Public School our classes are preparing messages of kindness to create a classroom kindness wall and encourage each other to take action and promote kindness in our classrooms and playgrounds.
This term our classes will also participate in lessons to highlight our "High Five"- how to deal with bullying strategy to help children understand what to do if they find themselves in a bullying situation. The steps guide students on how to stop the problem from becoming worse and encourage children to make quick decisions if they think they're being bullied. These five steps should be followed in order and depending on severity. All of these actions are outlined to stop children from suffering in silence.
Clare Sullivan
