A SONG, film and psychological training will be used to tackle school bullying in the North East.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Five schools across the region will benefit from $20,000 provided by the Victorian government under its Bully Stoppers program.
Year 9s from Tallangatta Secondary College, Rutherglen High School and Wodonga Middle Years College will combine to make a film addressing cyber bullying.
Bright P-12 students will record a song responding to anti-social behaviour and Wangaratta District Specialist School’s senior students will be given psychological training.
Tallangatta principal Alby Freijah said his school nurse Kate Haynes had sought $10,000 to educate year 9s across his school and Rutherglen and Wodonga.
They will be taught about cyber-bullying and develop a short film to demonstrate how it can be harmful.
“The program will provide our students, teachers, parents and community members with further opportunities to be proactive in improving cyber-safety and reducing online bullying,” Mr Freijah said.
“The most powerful part of the program will be the young people educating their peers and driving the change from within their own circles of influence.”
Bright P-12’s $5000 grant will allow students to professionally record a song at Beechworth, the member for Benalla, Bill Sykes, said.
“Students from Bright P-12 College have developed an anthem against bullying which will now be further developed and the students will explore their understanding of bullying and the different ways in which it can be addressed within the college,” Mr Sykes said.
“The college plans to write another song performed by students and recorded at a sound studio in Beechworth.”
Wangaratta will use its $5000 to have a psychologist train up to 20 senior students about bullying so they can be leaders in the primary and secondary school yards and classrooms.
“The aim of the program is to prevent bullying and to pro-actively teach students what they can do if they are bullied,” the member for Murray Valley Tim McCurdy said.
“Up to one-in-five children are involved in bullying at any one time in schools.
“Bullying has been shown to stop within 10 seconds when bystanders take positive action.”
