Learning to prevent bullying

Grade 5 and 6 students at École Ste-Marie in Azilda participated in a leadership day focusing on bullying and intimidation Dec. 12.

The activity sought to provide students with strategies to better assume a leadership role in their school and community.

It was organized by the Conseil scolaire catholique du Nouvel-Ontario’s (CSCNO) Identity Development and Special Education teams, as well as teachers, educators and the school’s youth leader.

Some 50 students, girls and boys, participated in a number of activities designed to promote a better understanding of one another, oral communication skills and Christian leadership, all the while learning to recognize, address and counter bullying and intimidation in all its forms.

Each student received a small pot with seedlings to symbolize his or her role in “cultivating” respect in their surroundings.

They also received a pink t-shirt, which is symbolic of anti-bullying initiatives.

“It is important for our students to recognize their role in preventing bullying and intimidation,” Carole Deslandes, curriculum advisor at the CSCNO, said in a press release.

“Through this type of activity, complemented by our leadership and self-affirmation camps for Grade 7 and 8 students, we advocate a proactive approach and a moral discernment in a Christian perspective to address this serious social issue.

“By working with our teachers and student leaders, we are providing essential tools and strategies to our students which will allow them to nurture respect around them and change the world.”

As part of its elementary school leadership program, the CSCNO will be offering further leadership activities to its Grade 5 and 6 students throughout the school year.

Earlier this fall, 200 students from Grades 7 and 8 participated in leadership and self affirmation camps.

Posted by Heidi Ulrichsen