Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week

This week is Ontario's Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week, along with Digital Citizenship. Ontario has designated the week beginning on the third Sunday of November as Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week to help promote safe schools and a positive learning environment. During Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week Ontario students, school staff and parents are encouraged to learn more about bullying and its effect on student learning and well-being. Throughout the week, our students will be involved in a school project called “Joining Hands at St. Luke to Stop the Cycle of Bullying”.  Each day on the announcements, a student will talk about the types of bullying and what we can do to “Stand Up” to bullying.

Bullying is defined as 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 imbalance. Types of bullying include:

• Physical – hitting, shoving, stealing or damaging property
• Verbal – name calling, mocking, or making sexist, racist or homophobic comments
• Social – excluding others from a group or spreading gossip or rumours about them
• Electronic (commonly known as cyberbullying) – spreading rumours and hurtful comments through the use of cellphones, e-mail, text messaging and social networking sites

Check out the following link for resources for parents and students:

Bullying 101