A.B.S. Anti-Bullying Schools "Be Strong!"

A.B.S. is a program created by our Grade 7/8 class to encourage students to "Be Strong" and confident when confronted with bullying. It involves grouping the entire student body into supportive "family" groups led by our older students. By building these cross graded relationships, students are encouraged to be inclusive of others and tolerant of differences. Our Grade 7/8's have designed and produced bright pink anti-bullying t-shirts that we have sold very successfully to our school community. We have had several special A.B.S. days and events throughout this year and plan to continue with this initiative in years to come. What makes this approach to bullying unique is that it is student created and implemented, in other words: students helping students. We hope that this program will eliminate bullying within our school. We plan to spread the message to other schools that students can do something about this problem by being aware, empowering each other, and feeling strong.

Update (February 28, 2012)

So far this year our A.B.S. events have included pumpkin carving, orienteering, solving riddles, designing snowmen and songs, creating a school newspaper, making cards and crafts to appreciate our teachers and staff, and we are not done yet! Upcoming events will be creating anti-bullying comics using Bitstrips, a tropical day, and Earth Day themed initiative, and a celebration day in June. All these fun events are designed to build a caring, cooperative school community that doesn't tolerate bullying behaviour. Our students are made aware of what bullying is and how to be proactive in standing up and discouraging bullying.

Two of our eager intermediate students have created a promotional video to send to other schools encouraging them to start A.B.S. programs in their schools, check out the video link to view this. These two students also applied for, and were successful in obtaining a SpeakUp Grant for student program initiatives. We will be visiting area schools in May to promote our program and invite students to visit Smith School for a training day. Stay tuned for more update to come!

Update (June 28, 2012)

As our school year wraps up, it is time to reflect on our A.B.S. accomplishments. Our student group has been very busy throughout the year successfully organizing a special event each month to promote our theme of being strong and standing up against bullying. Events were designed so that students had to work together, get to know each other better, and understand that friendship will leave no room for bullying at Smith School.

This year, thanks to the Imagineaction grant, we were able to visit neighbouring schools to share our important anti-bullying message. Our new video camera, another grant windfall, helped us record our students in action enjoying themselves, each other, building strong connections and self confidence. Check out our media link to see what we have been up to.

We ended the year with a full day celebration including a BBQ and a fundraiser for our outdoor education centre, Woodend. Our students know the importance of being kind to each other and being kind to the Earth.

Thank you to the Canadian Teachers' Federation for your generosity. Your contribution certainly enhanced our anti-bullying initiative this year.