Category Archives: School Virtues Assemblies

Keep Your Focus and Believe the Bullying Will Stop

I often talk to people about their own experiences with bullying. I was at a school recently where I talked to someone about her own personal experiences. She said bullying had been part of her life for years. She had told people about the meanness and about specific hurtful examples. She explained how she sometimes spoke up and asked the bully to stop. She tried to stay confident. She read as much about bullying as she could. She talked to friends about her frustrations. She asked her parents for advice. She said there were times when she felt discouraged, but she never gave up. She was determined that the bullying would stop and she just kept imagining a day when people would not pick on her.

When she was going into grade 6, she tried even harder to stay focused on her vision of no bullying. She said, as the year progressed, she noticed the bullying started to decrease. More people were nice to her. People would sometimes stick up for her. After Easter she realized that the bullying had actually stopped completely. She never forgot her struggles though. They remained vividly etched in her mind.

This is the kind of good-news story that can help everyone realize that bullying can be conquered! Now that she is a grade six teacher herself, she was able to tell me her story with clarity and focus. Even though it was a tough struggle, she is a shining example for her students today, and she has empathy when students talk to her about their own challenges with bullying.

Bullying prevention is the focus in our School Assemblies. Visit www.atfm.ca or www.brucelangford.ca for more information

Anger Management and Bullying Prevention in Toronto Ontario

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We have presented workshops to hundreds of children in the greater Toronto area.
Here are some tips about anger:

Try to figure out why you are angry. Ask yourself questions to find out.
Try to leave the situation that is causing the anger. If you can’t, take ten deep breaths and let each one out slowly.
Wait before you do or say anything. If you say or do something in anger, you may be sorry later. You are responsible for your words and actions.
Get moving. Be active. Anger is often released by exercise and activity.
Write down your thoughts. Let them pour out. Don’t worry about spelling or grammar. Keep this to yourself until you have read it over and some time has passed. Things may seem different by that time.
If you still feel angry, find a trusted adult to talk to. Share your thoughts and listen to the adult’s advice. If you don’t know who to talk to, call Kids Help Phone 1-800-668-6868.
Anger can cause bullying. Anger can cause people to be bullied. We all have anger at times. Try to deal with your anger without being mean to others. Bruce Langford presents workshops on bullying prevention to help with relationship issues.

www.StandUpAgainstBullying.com

Stop Bullying Behaviours by Using 3 Powerful Dragon Qualities

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Norwich School Students Use Dragon Qualities to Stop Bullying situations. We visited Norwich Public School, home of the dragons on Friday. Dragons

Famous Norwich Public School Dragon

are believed to be strong, sensitive and brave. These are the very attributes needed by a person who will ‘Stand Up Against Bullying’. Bystanders stand by while mean things are said or done. A ‘stand-upper ‘ will use the dragon qualities of strength, sensitivity and bravery to ‘stand up against bullying’. Children should never be expected to deal with these issues alone though. Adults need to be right there to encourage children whenever necessary. Teachers, administrators, support staff and children can all work together to stand up against bullying and make sure no one suffers because of bullying.

Encourage and model respect and as a result bullying will automatically begin to disappear . You will experience respect at Norwich Public School (Thames Valley District School Board) where we presented ‘Stand Up For Respect’ assemblies. Students from Otterville Public School and North Norwich Public School joined together with the Norwich Public School students to learn ways to show respect. Role-plays, videos and songs all helped children understand how to grow respect.
Be like the dragon; use your strength, sensitivity and bravery to stand up against bullying;
be a ‘stand-upper’ and Stand Up For Respect!

Bruce Langford of ‘Stand Up Now’ Productions will visit your school to present bullying prevention programs. Contact him at 1-800-901-8831 or visit the website at www.standupnow.ca

Inspirational School Sponsors Stand Up To Bullying Assemblies in Waterloo Board

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Woodland Park has spirit! Here is the proof. Everywhere you look you are inspired with displays, slogans, quotes and murals. Even more inspirational than that are the warm vibrations you get from the staff and students. Everyone works together at Woodland Park to make sure the positive feeling is alive. Here are some of the messages we read when we arrived at the school to present our ‘Cyberbullying – Got 2 Go’ assemblies.
No matter who you are,
Or where you’re from
Your future is up to you!
Experience the power of community.
Open hearts and open minds.
LIVE A PERFECT DAY.
DO SOMETHING KIND FOR SOMEONE
WHO WILL NOT BE ABLE TO REPAY YOU.
Every day, try to be a little kinder than necessary.
Principal, Mrs. Ogilvie, takes great pride in the amount of school spirit present within these walls. Cooperation, joy, kindness, caring and hope. These are all attributes that matter in school. They are all present at Woodland Park School. Teachers, children, administration and support staff all work together to achieve happiness and peace at Woodland Park. Children thrive when they feel the powerful positive vibes in their environment like those present at Woodland Park.
Woodland Park Public School in Cambridge is an inspiring school!
Woodland Park, Home of the Bears, sponsored Cyberbullying Prevention Assemblies by Bruce Langford, of Stand Up Now Productions. Principal, Mrs. Ogilvie said “the feedback was excellent and the messages were exactly what we were hoping for!”

Wisdom and Respect Workshop in York Catholic DSB School

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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.

Bullying Prevention Assemblies with Religious Faith Content in Dufferin Peel Catholic Schools

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Virtues at St. Andrew School

Empathy, conscience, hope, respect, acceptance, kindness, self-control and fairness are all virtues honoured at St. Andrew Catholic School in Orangeville Ontario. We presented our ‘Stand Up Against Bullying’ assemblies at the school yesterday and were wowed by the amazing reception from students, staff and administration. It was our second visit, after presenting ‘Cyberbullying – Got 2 Go’ during our last visit hosted by Mr. Gregory Krar.

This time, the students were just as respectful and showed even more excitement, since most of them

Mrs. Hageman's Display Case

remembered us from our last visit. We put a lot of effort into the rehearsal of the role-plays with pre-selected students from St. Andrew. The volunteer students who did the acting were just excellent at their parts and really made a strong statement with the audiences.

Mrs. Hageman is the teacher-librarian at the school. She arranged all the details of our visit

The Stand Up Against Bullying Vow

and was a very gracious hostess representing St. Andrew. She watched all three assemblies and was most appreciative of what she saw.

Principal, Mrs. Cindy Young, described the assemblies with great enthusiasm: “Each assembly was right on the mark! You hit on all the important aspects of what we want our St. Andrew students to live by. I really liked how you changed your assemblies for each age group!”

St. Andrew Banner

(Mrs. Cindy Young, Principal at St. Andrew Catholic School)

This school has left a very powerful impression! The students were genuine in their appreciation of the topic. They want to be positive role models and do their part to reduce bullying. The staff was supportive and on board with the topic. We will remember our day at St. Andrew Catholic School in Orangeville (Dufferin Peel Catholic District School Board DPCDSB) for a long time!

: St. Andrew School Painting on Ceramic

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!

Cyber-bullying & Cyber-safety Workshops for Elementary Students get high marks

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St. Benedict Catholic School, Orangeville (Dufferin Peel Catholic District School Board) welcomed Bruce Langford, of Stand Up Now Productions.
Principal, Mr. Gregory Krar was very pleased with the ‘Cyberbullying – Got 2 Go’ assemblies. “These assemblies were exactly what we wanted for our students. Bruce Langford made the topic of cyberbullying interesting and entertaining for our students. The videos and role-plays made the messages easy to understand.” Mr. Krar was just as pleased with the Stand Up Now workshops when they were presented at his last school, St. Andrew Catholic School in Orangeville.

Students got involved in the dialogue, with one student warning others about the potential dangers of web cams. He explained how your computer can be hacked and the hacker can actually see what your web cam is seeing.
One student said she would use the tip about including numbers or symbols in passwords.
We were impressed with the students at St. Benedict. They really took this topic of cyberbullying and cyber-safety seriously. They interacted positively and were respectful audiences.

Principal Endorsed Anti-Bullying Prevention Assemblies in Toronto

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Parents, please be aware of what your children are doing on line!
This is one of the cyberbullying tips we shared during our ‘Stand Up – Keep Your Kids’ parent workshop at Julliard School today. More than 57 families attended the parent talk about cyber-bullying by teacher/presenter Bruce Langford. Parents learned strategies to quell cyber-bullying and they were enthusiastic with the role-plays presented by their children.

Here is some feedback following the student assemblies:
“The’Stand Up For Respect’ assemblies were excellent! Bruce Langford presented three different programs all geared to our specific grade levels here at Julliard French Immersion School (Toronto). Bruce has a lovely manner with the students and covered many points about bullying prevention using terminology we use here at Julliard. The assemblies were just the right length for our students. We would like to have Bruce back to present his ‘Cyberbullying – Got 2 Go’ assemblies. Our parent evening was also a big success!
Judith Goldberg, Vice-Principal Julliard Public School, Maple Ontario

Students were totally engaged with the Stand Up For Respect assemblies. They were completely focused on the role-plays and videos. They answered questions respectfully, clapped along with the songs and wondered when they would be able to see another presentation by Benny DL. Benny DL is also known as speaker/presenter, Bruce Langford, of Stand Up Now Productions.
Julliard Public School is a place where students, teachers and staff have high standards and really care about respect. That was an obvious conclusion based on our one day visit to Julliard Public School.

A tip to build solid friendships in Dufferin Peel Catholic Schools

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Tip: You can build more friendships if you are always honest with people. Honesty is a very important part of friendships that is sometimes overlooked. What might seem like the smallest lie can still hurt a friendship in a big way. Even if no one ever finds out about the lie, it is still a lie. It is a dishonest part of you that lives inside you. Start today. Make up your mind to stick to the truth. Be committed to integrity and don’t stray from being completely truthful.
The above friendship and respect tip was included as part of our ‘Stand Up For Respect’ presentations today at St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic School in Mississauga (DPCDSB). We met many students at St. Elizabeth Seton who obviously are committed to being respectful people. Students thought about the many aspects of respect as they watched role-plays and videos about the topic. Teachers and students told us that the ‘Stand Up For Respect’ assemblies helped kids understand how even one person can make a big difference when they make a choice on the side of respect. Just remember, Stand Up For Respect in your daily life and do your best to be honest.
Bruce Langford presents programs on respect, bullying and cybersafety in school boards across Ontario. The ‘Stand Up Now’ website is www.standupnow.ca