By Danielle Kutchel
Students at Hampton Park Primary School have “taken action together” to prevent bullying.
The school acknowledged the National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence on Friday 19th March, participating in activities that embodied the day’s theme, ‘take action together’.
According to teacher Kristy Short, anti-bullying is integral to all teaching at Hampton Park Primary School, with teachers discussing it regularly and empowering students to be able to identify bullying and know what to do when it happens.
This year, to mark the day, students joined together in their year level groups to create murals for the cause.
“We wanted it to be big enough to display for the whole year,” Ms Short explained.
Students each decorated their own contribution to the murals.
Preps focused their pieces on superheroes and the fight against bullying; for grade ones and twos, the theme was that while students are all “different fish, at this school we all swim together”. Grade threes and fours brought an Aboriginal theme to their work with a slogan on belonging; and grade five and six students created a soccer pitch as the “defensive line against bullying”, Ms Short explained.
On Friday, all students participated in a gallery walk around the school to take in the creations.
Ms Short said social and emotional awareness is important at Hampton Park Primary School.
“It’s a huge part of our learning – students have a really good awareness of bullying,” she said.
