Anti-bullying Ambassadors at St Mary’s Catholic College, Wallasey, have come together to promote equality, diversity, inclusion, and kindness within school.
The Anti-bullying Ambassadors are made up of 12 students from Years 9, 11, 12 and 13 and was originally set up in 2021 as part of the school’s ‘#BEKIND!’ campaign and has since continued to develop.
Nine of the ambassadors attended a training event in the summer term with The Diana Award where they were trained in defining, identifying, and overcoming bullying issues, as well as working on ways to change attitudes and behaviours back at school.
Following the training, the ambassadors have created a strategic plan to promote anti-bullying. Earlier this term, the 12 Anti-bullying Ambassadors led a whole staff training session to raise awareness of their action plan.
The plan includes activities such as setting up an online system for students to report bullying to the ambassadors, who will then support the student and inform staff, holding parent/carer information evenings to educate on how to spot bullying, and working with local primary schools to discuss with the children about the impact of bullying as well as the importance of standing up against it.
‘The Open Door’ space at school has also been created for students who are having friendship issues and can receive support from the ambassadors, as well as ‘Feel-Good Fridays’ where wellbeing will be promoted throughout the day.
The first Feel-Good Friday will be taking place on 18 November, at the end of Anti-Bullying Week, and will include mindfulness craft activities in the library, live music in the canteen, Zumba sessions in the yard and dance studio, a keyring photobooth and a cinema experience in the school’s theatre.
Through these plans and their ongoing work to prevent bullying, the ambassadors are on their way to hopefully achieve more accolades, awarded by The Diana Award, such as the Community Action Award, Respect Award and Wellbeing Award.
The core values of ‘respect’, ‘courage’, ‘pride’, ‘determination’, and ‘compassion’ are of utmost importance to the St Mary’s Catholic College community, and the Anti-Bullying Ambassadors team continue to put these into practice on a daily basis.
Leading the initiative alongside the students is head of Year 7, Mrs Charlotte Willis. She commented, “It is a pleasure working with our Anti-Bullying Ambassadors. They are incredibly passionate about the initiative and are keen to make a real difference in school.”
Headteacher, Mr Kevin Maddocks, said, “The decision to continue the Anti-Bullying Ambassadors team after the ‘#BEKIND!’ campaign was a fantastic one. The ambassadors have been working hard to promote anti-bullying throughout the school in a range of ways.
“Students from all year groups are able to benefit from the activities and support services that are provided. We are incredibly proud of the team for the work that they do and are looking forward to seeing the plans that this year’s members have created being executed.”
Image: GOOGLE
Why not follow birkenhead.news on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter? You can also send story ideas to news@birkenhead.news
Subscribe to our FREE newsletter