Category Archives: anti-bullying

Wisdom and Respect Workshop in York Catholic DSB School

St. Matthew's Virtues Tree, Markham

Founded on Faith
Growing with Hope
Rooted in Love
Faith, Hope and Love are key virtues at St. Matthew Catholic School in Unionville (Markham) Ontario.

The 9 St. Matthew’s Virtues:

Unity
Wisdom
Reverence
Perseverance
Justice
Responsibility

St. Matthew's Hawks Mascot

Courage
Compassion
Integrity

In the student workshops today, we focused on Wisdom and Respect. These are very important virtues because they can shape you as the person you were meant to be. Use your wisdom to make the best choices. Use your wisdom to do things without having to be asked. That is how initiative is related to wisdom. Use your wisdom to show respect, help others and make the world a better place. Use your wisdom to grow your faith.

St. Matthew Catholic School, YCDSB

The students here at St. Matthew Catholic School take the virtues of respect and wisdom seriously. They want to use their wisdom to help grow their understanding of respect.

St. Matthew’s School

St. Matthew School Mural

Principal, Mrs. Veronica Robinson said she would recommend the ‘Stand Up For Respect’ workshops to the other Principals in the York Catholic District School Board.
“Bruce Langford inspired and engaged all our students with his presentation skills. Excellent assemblies!”
Mrs. Veronica Robinson (Principal), St. Matthew Catholic School, Markham
(York Catholic District School Board)

Students and staff left a lasting impression with us today at St. Matthew Catholic School in Markham! Remember, ‘Stand Up For Respect’.

‘Stand Up For Respect’ workshops are available for your school. Contact Bruce Langford at Stand Up Now Productions 1-800-901-8831.

Sarnia Area School is determined to reduce bullying with Student Seminar

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Sarnia Area School Peaceful School Pledge

Hillcrest Peaceful School Pledge

The Hillcrest Peaceful School pledge is posted in the gym in a huge green peaceful school tree. The students and staff hear it every morning on the announcements.
It reads:
I attend a peaceful school.
It is my responsibility to play safe
and not say or do anything that hurts anyone’s body, feelings or things.
I respect myself.
I respect others.
I respect property.

The students showed that respect yesterday as we presented two anti-bullying seminars to the students. Hillcrest teachers gave Stand Up Now Productions top marks in their feedback reports saying they would definitely encourage other Sarnia area schools in the Lambton Kent District School Board (LKDSB) to host our Stand Up Against Bullying seminars. Teacher/Presenter, Bruce Langford was extremely pleased with the student response to the skits, videos and music.

Hillcrest Public School, Petrolia

Students at Hillcrest Public School really do care about being a peaceful school!

Helping Others Develops Strong Character at Summers Corners School in TVDSB

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Bruce Langford Bullying Prevention Speaker

Bruce Langford at a TVDSB School

Snow, snow and more snow here at Summers Corners Public School near Aylmer, Ontario.

The snow brings us together. It gets us working together, helping each other. We offer to shovel snow for those who need help. We encourage each other to stay safe on the roads. We become a little closer to each other when we offer help to people.

Summers Corners Public School

Today at Summers Corners Public School in Thames Valley District School Board, our message has been to help each other and encourage each other. Be the one person who will have the strength and the courage to stand up against bullying. Be willing to take action and do something. It does take confidence and strength. It requires strong character. Every person can learn to develop their character and take charge. Summers Corners students are those kind of people. They exhibit respect and consideration and that really came through to us during our visit today.

Summers Corners School Sign

We had some student role-plays featuring Summers Corners students that focused on the bystander and how you can become the person who will do something about a situation. Summers Corners Principal, Mr. Don Naylor welcomed the students in all three assemblies and introduced Bruce Langford as the presenter. He talked about building strong character and Mr. Naylor told the students, ‘don’t be a bystander, be an upstander’.

Remember that quote! And remember to ‘Stand Up Against Bullying’ at your school.

School Assemblies by Bruce Langford of ‘Stand Up Now Productions’
www.standupnow.ca

How to teach children not to bully… (Peel School Board)

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Whitehorn Public School in Mississauga has some answers to this question. ‘Soaring to the Peak’ is an answer you will hear from the children. You see, Whitehorn Mountain is in Mount Robson Provincial Park in British Columbia, Canada. It is a 2,621 metre high mountain of pure natural beauty.

The students of Whitehorn School know they must strive to meet the challenge of ‘Soaring to the Peak’ by:

Participation
Effort
Achievement
Kindness

Q. What is a person called who sees and hears meanness, but they don’t do anything about it?

A. Scared.

That is the answer we heard yesterday from a student who watched a role-play in our ‘Stand Up For Respect’ assembly and felt empathy for the person being bullied. In the adult world, the correct answer to the question is ‘bystander’. Children need to know that a bystander is not a bad person. A bystander may not know what to do, or the incident may have happened so fast, they didn’t have time to react. It is important to teach children what bystanders can do to reduce bullying behaviours, but let’s not blame children for not stepping in when we also tell them to always look out for their safety.

Whitehorn Public School is a respectful place because people care. People know that teaching respect means modeling respect. Principal, Mrs. Margaret Patterson is a great example of how to nurture respect in a caring environment. Mrs. Patterson and her staff definitely ‘Soar to the Peak’ at Whitehorn Public School!

Major snowfall can bring people together against bullying

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The families had one thing in common; a ten year old girl named Maria, who bullied the others on the street relentlessly. She always had the last word and she used her opportunities to make the other kids feel humiliated.

Then the snow came. Three kids came out to play on the cul-du-sac. Two others came out to shovel snow down by the park. Two walked by on their way to visit a friend. They all met on the sidewalk by her house. They started talking. They laughed for a few minutes about a Youtube video they had all seen.

Maria didn’t say anything mean. She just talked about the constant snowfall and the number of snow days she had enjoyed. She sat down on a snow mountain and talked about how she wanted to change. She didn’t want to be a bully anymore.

Ottawa students stamp out bullying at Farley Mowat School (OCDSB)

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Farley Mowat Public School in Ottawa is a place where we met passionate students who are totally set to stamp out bullying. Here are some of their comments:
“Thanks for helping us learn more about bullying and how to STOP it. We can STOP it!”
Grade 4 student

“Awesome show – really enjoyed the music video and the songs. It helped me understand what I can do.”
Grade 5 student

“The play was really good. This would make a bully think, why would I do this. And it would help reduce bullying for sure.”
Grade 5 student

Famous Farley Mowat School Wolf Mascot

“It will help people realize how a bullied person would feel.”
Gr 4 student

Princpal, Ms. Judy-Anne Brush complimented the program and Vice-Principal, Ms. Anna Lyall said she would definitely recommend the ‘Stand Up Against Bullying’ assemblies to other schools.
To arrange to have Bruce Langford present assemblies at your school, call 1-800-901-8831 or visit the website at www.standupnow.ca

Farley Mowat

Students at Farley Mowat Public School, Ottawa (OCDSB) are determined to:

* Speak Up when they see bullying behaviour.

* Be positive role-models around the school and community

* Use positive language that will stop bullies in their tracks

* Ignore people who say bullying will always exist

These students are an inspiration!

York Region Bullying Bullying Awareness & Prevention Week

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Poplar Bank Public School students and staff were totally on board with their determination to conquer bullying on Friday. Teacher/Presenter, Bruce Langford offered three different assemblies to the students with videos, songs and role-plays by Poplar Bank’s own students. Vice-Principal Jennifer Diceman expressed her satisfaction with all that she saw and heard in the assemblies.
“Speak up, tell an adult”, one student said when commenting about bullying. Another talked about helping her friend in a bullying situation. “We can all make a difference, if we really try!”, claimed one grade 7 student. Many students were extra pumped because they remembered DJ Benny DL from a previous visit last year when they remembered the ‘Cyberbullying – Got 2 Go’ assembly. “Will you sing that same song about passwords again?” one student asked before the show.

Poplar Bank Bell

We learned a little history about Poplar Bank as well. The original Poplar Bank School was built of logs and was located at Yonge Street and Poplar Bank Sideroad. It was replaced in 1862 and used until 1965. Poplar Bank

Old Poplar Bank School Building

has some of it’s history on display including the bell from the old school house.
Contact Bruce Langford at ‘Stand Up Now Productions’ 1-800-901-8831 to book assemblies for your school.

Bullying Prevention Bystander Message in Kitchener Waterloo Area School

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Ayr Public School was the setting yesterday for a Parent Council Sponsored Bullying Prevention Talk for Parents and Children by speaker/presenter Bruce Langford of Stand Up Now Productions. (Stand Up Against Bullying student assemblies took place during the day.)
The school takes pride in the respectful reputation it has under the direction of principal Ms. Nancy Thorsen. The students showed keen interest in the topic of bullying as they watched their peers act in the student role-plays. The music and videos gave impact to the presentation as well. Every family who attended the parent talk was given a free music CD with 14 bullying prevention songs. The songs cover everything from telling and

Ayr Public School's Bully Box

tattling to empathy.
Here you can see that Ayr Public School really takes bullying prevention seriously. They have this Bully Box in the office so that students can write down bullying related problems and drop the information in the bullying box for confidential assistance. Principal Nancy Thorsen says that with the bully box and also weekly class meetings, student difficulties get resolved quite quickly.
Try the bully box idea in your school. It can make an effective difference!

Ayr PS Front Hall Mural

Bystander couldn’t bear to walk away from the bullied victim at Toronto School

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Anti-bullying in Toronto Middle School

John G. Althouse Middle School in Toronto is the setting. The students are acting out a role-play in front of the other grade 7 students. It was rehearsed, but we pull four more students from the audience who are supposed to just walk away from the victim with all the others. Then we plan to replay the role-play again showing what should have happened. One or more of the bystanders could have done something to help the victim.
But this time things were different. One of the girls, who had come up from the audience, just couldn’t bear to walk away from the victim, even though she was being urged by the other actors to do so.

Stand Up Now in Toronto District School Board School

That really showed that girl’s inner spirit and integrity. She just hung back like a magnet was pulling her to do something to help the victimized girl. The audience cheered. We went on to talk about what every person can do to help, who sees bullying behaviour. That girl made the point crystal clear to an audience of nearly two hundred. That girl made my day!

John G. Althouse Vice-Principal, Jennifer Newby was impressed with the Stand Up Now assemblies.
“Great strategies with the students, good interaction and effective role-plays. We were very pleased with the Stand Up Against Bullying intermediate assemblies!”

Contact Bruce Langford at Stand Up Now Productions at 1-800-901-8831 or visit the website at www.standupnow.ca

Cyberbullying taken seriously at Coledale School where meanness is not tolerated

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Coledale Public School Cyberbullying Program

Cyberbullying Program at Coledale Public School

The 7 steps to Cyber-safety were talked about and taken seriously by students and staff at Coledale Public School in Toronto (Markham) on Friday.

Step # 4: Never meet people you have met on the web.

The above cyber-safety/internet tip was highlighted in a role-play where two girls arranged to meet someone at the mall. This was no stranger. After all, one of the girls had been chatting on-line with ‘Georgina’ for three months. Suddenly she was in town for a swim meet and offered to meet in the food court at the local mall. Gasps could be heard from the audience when it turned out ‘Georgina’ was not a 13 year old girl at all, but in fact a 43 year old man.
Police became involved and the potential victims were protected from the close call.

Following the assembly, we talked personally with some staff members who commented:
“The role-plays really drove home the points about misrepresentation on the internet and I loved your songs as well. We were very pleased with the Stand Up Now assemblies at Coledale!”
Donna McGann, Principal, Coledale Public School, Markham Ontario, York Region District School Board

“Bruce Langford tapped into the multiple intelligences with his dynamic, clear, engaging way of reaching the audience. This was one of the best performances I’ve ever seen at all the schools I’ve been at!”
Karen Monteith, Teacher, Coledale Public School, Markham Ontario.

Bruce Langford of Stand Up Now Productions can be contacted at 1-800-901-8831 or through the website at www.standupnow.ca