This week marks Bullying Prevention Week, a very important week at Emily Stowe Public School as well as the Thames Valley District School Board. In 2010, the Ontario Government designated the third week of every November as Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week to help promote safer schools and a positive learning environment. This initiative builds on the Safe Schools education and activities already taking place in schools across the province.
The goal of The Pledge campaign is to reach members of the Thames Valley community with the coordinated and consistent message that bullying is unacceptable in schools and everywhere else in our community. The idea of “The Pledge to end bullying” is to engage everyone in making a verbal commitment to end bullying behaviour. On Monday morning at 10:00 am students at ESPS will take the following pledge as a school community:
“I believe that everybody has the right to feel safe, included, valued and accepted. I pledge to respect others and to stand up against and report bullying whenever and wherever I see it.”
While The Pledge began in Thames Valley, each year more communities are joining us. In 2012, Barrie, Kitchener-Waterloo and Windsor came in board. This year, people in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan will be taking The Pledge. Incidents of bullying and responsibility for bullying prevention are not restricted to schools; they are community challenges. Students at ESPS will participate in video messages all week long, one of many ways we seek to provide a safe learning environment for its students and the challenge to end bullying in schools. Mrs. Munro
Information taken from: http://www.tvdsb.ca/welcome.cfm?subpage=131492