BATTLING BULLIES.
Students at Turnbull School would step in and help if they saw another student being bullied. From left to right are Kyle Dickinson, Grade 6, Claire Sethuram, Grade 7, Ben Rogers, Grade 7 and Sasha Mews, Grade 5.
Photo by Kristy Wallace
If Sasha Mews saw another student being bullied, she’d refuse to be a bystander. Claire Sethuram would step in and ask how the bully felt if they were being picked on. Kyle Dickinson and Ben Rogers would try and help – but would turn to an adult if they couldn’t handle the situation.
Mary Ann Turnbull isn’t surprised to hear her students’ reaction to bullying. Every school year, students at Turnbull School are required to sign the Honour Code, which includes the Code of Compassion that each student must follow in their day-to-day life.
“If you want to change behaviour, you have to show what needs to be done, not what doesn’t need to be done,” said Turnbull, who’s the school’s director. “The values we had when we founded the school have not changed. While the school is bigger and we have more students, we come to school everyday to be kind to each other, bring no harm to anyone else and be the best you can be.”
Schools across Ottawa have focused on the subject of bullying as part of Bullying Awareness Week.
But many focus on preventing bullying all year round, including Turnbull School.
“Those campaigns are reactive, whereas we’re proactive and we’re educating children around these social competencies all the time,” said Turnbull.
The idea behind the school’s Code of Compassion is simple. Treat others the way you want to be treated. Show kindness to everyone, not just our friends. Put yourself in someone else’s shoes.
Every month, certain students are even rewarded for displaying certain traits like optimism, cooperation and appreciation.
“It's normal that, at times, children disagree. We try to teach them the value of ‘cooperation’ so that they are better prepared to work out their differences in a more collaborative and respectful manner,” said Buddy Clinch, junior school vice-principal.
Sasha, who’s in Grade 5 and was awarded for optimism during the 2009/10 school year, said the school even has a buddy system for new students.
“If there’s a new student in Grade 5, we would have a buddy who would stay with them during recess so they’d have someone to play with,” she said.
The partnership also serves another purpose, said Ben.
“The buddy shows them around the school. It’s a way to be inclusive,” he said.
The students also have advice for other students who might be getting bullied and might not know how to handle it.
“Don’t change who you are to make others happy,” said Sasha. “If you like something and someone doesn’t, don’t try and change what you believe.”
She added that if a student is being bullied, they should try and understand why the bully is acting that way.
“Maybe they’re having difficulties and they’re trying to express it,” Sasha said.
Claire, a Grade 7 student at the school, added that it’s important to treat others the way you want to be treated.
“Sometimes a bully wants to change but (those who were bullied) won’t want to include them because they’ve been mean for so long,” she said. “But if a bully keeps being nice, then you will want to include them.”
Various schools across Ottawa are also taking part in the “Healthy Transitions” program this year, which is a new suicide prevention program that Ottawa Public Health started for students in Grades 7 and 8.
“Healthy transitions . . . absolutely does address bullying,” said Benjamin Leikin of Ottawa Public Health in an interview with Ottawa This Week. “We address it and give students the tools to talk to others in a time of need.”
Ottawa Public Health also ran Playground Activity Leaders – or PALS – in 40 different schools last year.
The bullying prevention program trains students in Grades 4 to 6 to be leaders in conflict resolution and communication on the playground.
With files from Laura Mueller