By Tory Woodhead & Katherine Al, Marketing and Communications Specialists
The week of November 21-25 is Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week in Ontario, and Elmwood’s student community was committed to spreading the word! The Middle School Student Council focused on “Our online presence and behaviour”, aiming to educate middle school students about online safety and cyberbullying, as well as how to safely use social media. The council prepared a video about different forms of bullying online. The homerooms watched the video and tried to identify what was unkind/bullying in the scenario. The council also prepared a Kahoot quiz for the middle schoolers to complete and test their knowledge of online safety. As social media platforms become more intertwined with our everyday lives, it is important that we remain vigilant about protecting ourselves and others online.
The Senior School decided to commemorate Anti-Bullying Week by focusing on spreading kindness. The students were asked to practice thankfulness and respect towards those people in their community who help them, namely teachers, staff, and other students, by going out of their way to be gracious and kind. The Senior School council also promoted this message of kindness by encouraging students to participate in random acts of kindness around the school, such as holding the door for someone who is running late or grabbing someone’s coffee order unexpectedly. The last thing the council did to create an environment of kindness within the school was write positive and uplifting affirmations on the bathroom mirrors. Next week, senior school students will continue the initiative by placing post-it-notes with positive affirmations on lockers throughout the school. The creation of this culture of kindness within the school was inspired by the classwork of our Junior Kindergarten students, who thoughtfully crafted ‘thank you’ art pieces for our custodian Mr. Juan, as the conclusion to their kindness unit. Click here to see the video of this wonderful activity! Hopefully, the activities we put on in the school this week will inspire you to go out into your community and spread a little bit of kindness.