Cyberbullying Awareness Week

The Davenies boys have spent the week being educated on cyberbullying awareness, developing the skills required to respond to the inappropriate actions of others online, as well as exploring their own thoughts and feelings on cyberbullying.

On Monday we were treated to an assembly led by Natasha Marie Stewart, Natasha stepped into the breach when The HARA cancelled at the last minute.  Natasha, who has previously been Rita Ora’s backing singer, performed some of her own material as well as a cover of Mabel’s Don’t Call Me Up.  The songs she had selected each had a message about mental health, relationships or cyberbullying.  Natasha talked about her own experiences with social media and the strategies she uses to keep herself safe and happy online.

Wednesday saw Steve from the Education Group running VR Cyberbullying workshops for Years 4 to 6.  Boys watched an incident of bullying and cyberbullying using the headsets and explored power, control and influence in the video.

That afternoon, PC Graham Brigginshaw, a local CEOP Ambassador, delivered a cyberbullying assembly to Pre-Prep.  The Pre-prep boys were excited to listen to a real police officer, PC Brigginshaw discussed with the boys what they use the internet for and having shared their favourite games the boys thought about what they needed to be aware of online. Boys could recall how to stay safe by not giving out their personal details. Being kind and respectful was also a common theme and PC Brigginshaw used an animated clip to highlight how we should and should not behave when online. Just because someone doesn’t know who you are, doesn’t mean you can behave in a mean way. Importantly, the boys were encouraged to think about what to do if they felt uncomfortable, looking out for those ‘butterflies in their tummy’ signals, and who to tell.

Over Thursday afternoon, Year 6 headed over to Years 1 and 2 to deliver short presentations on cyberbullying as a result of their work in English lessons earlier on in the week.

Throughout the week there has been the following:

• A QR code hunt on the theme of cyberbullying where boys in year 5-8 had to identify the correct action for each scenario to collect a string of letters which spell out a hidden message.

Well done to the top three teams!

For Years 5 and 6:

In form times, Years 3-8 discussed cyberbullying situations and suggested solutions to them.

• In other assemblies:

Year 3 & 4 enjoyed a presentation from 3C about Cyberbullying to the Junior School.  Everyone took part and they acted out different scenarios about what can happen in the playground and online.  They talked about what was good ‘etiquette’ and good ‘netiquette’.

Years 5 & 6 watched a few videos from BBC’s Own It site exploring why there is hate online.  They discussed the most productive ways to spend their spare time, as well as exploring the benefits of human interaction against digital interaction.

Year 7 & 8 learnt what it was like to have a saboteur in your online community who flaunts the rules and spoils others’ enjoyment of social media.  They received the message from the Anti-Bullying Alliance’s Stop, Speak, Support initiative which endeavours to motivate students to

• Think before getting involved; get an overview of what’s really going on;
• Ask someone you can trust for advice. Use CEOP’s report facility;
• Give the person being bullied a supportive message to let them know they’re not alone.

The Year 7 Digital Leaders, Solomon and Ben have been busy helping the week run smoothly and have been an integral part of the week.  Huge thanks to them.