November 14 – November 18 is Anti-Bullying Awareness Week in Ontario.

Bullying has become a societal issue where all stakeholders need to work together to shed light on the problem. HWDSB and A.M. Cunningham School has several structures in place to better understand and address the issue.

There are many pieces to the puzzle:

• Firstly, we need to understand the definition of bullying, “Bullying is typically a form of repeated, persistent and aggressive behaviour directed at an individual or individuals that is intended to cause (or should be known to cause) fear and distress and/or harm to another person’s body, feelings, self-esteem or reputation. Bullying occurs in a context where there is a real or perceived power ”
• Not every incident, particularly in the primary/junior level is There are problems that arise between children that need to be worked through and learned from. Often the word, “bullying” is over used or not used correctly.
• Teaching your child to be kind to others is the key. By drawing attention to kindness, we can teacher and encourage our children to say and do positive things to others. It is important to help your child learn how to appropriately solve a problem when it arises.
• By building these problem-solving skills to deal with these issues, we help our children become confident, well- adjusted and resilient.
• A. M. Cunningham focuses on a character trait each month. Students are acknowledged at the monthly assembly for demonstrating the character trait, and teachers reinforce the trait using “teachable moments” in the classroom as a pro-active measure.

Children need to report incidents to staff members if they feel they are being bullied so that we can investigate the situation and help to resolve the problem. Everyone has a role in preventing bullying by speaking out when we see it happening! Let’s all make A.M. Cunningham School a safe, inviting learning environment!