Respectful Relationships

Inclusion Starts With I

Respectful Relationships Student Forum

On Wednesday, August 7th, over 60 students from 9 schools attended a Student Forum at Orchard Grove. Four students from Orchard Grove presented the entire day, in conjunction with four students from Parkmore Primary School. Steph (3/4SW), Will (4HJ), Lily (5SW) and Cassie (5MA) did an outstanding job of educating other schools and students about the Respectful Relationships initiative, and sharing how we have implemented it at Orchard Grove.

Throughout the day, students ran activities, shared examples and ideas, and  discussed some big issues including gender equity, bullying, being an upstander and challenging gender stereotypes. Steph, Will, Lily and Cassie showed so many character strengths during the Student Forum (and during planning sessions) including being kind, curious, determined, risk-takers and self-control. As a community, we should feel extremely proud of their conduct and enthusiasm in making the Student Forum the successful day it was.

Well done team! (Mr Todd and Miss Cant)

Activities from the day:

                                  What does RR look, feel and sound like?

                              What are we already doing in the community?

                                           Challenging gender stereotypes     

                                    What are we already doing at school?

Respectful Relationships Student Forum Update

Last Wednesday (6th June) Stephanie Coleman, Will Rowan, Cassie Whelan and Lily Hersbach went to a meeting at Parkmore Primary School. We had a tour around the school and discussed our upcoming Forum which both Orchard Grove and Parkmore will be presenting. The forum will be held at Orchard Grove on August 7th and over 60 students from schools around the area will be attending. At the forum, students will be learning about Respectful Relationships, how they can show respect around their school, and what they can do to encourage their schools to be more inclusive and safe. The Respectful Relationships Student Team will tell you more about the Student Forum at our next Assembly.

(By Stephanie Coleman and the Respectful Relationships Student Team)

Open Night

This week we had a fantastic Open Night to mark Education Week, and celebrate the outstanding work we all do at Orchard Grove. We had rooms set up with Wellbeing, Specialist, Inquiry, Literacy and Maths activities, and children had to collect codewords for a passport from each room. Here are some of the examples of wellbeing rotations, many of which were taken from the Respectful Relationships booklets.

National Day Against Bullying and Violence 2019

Orchard Grove are ready to mark the National Day Against Bullying and Violence. Being a partner school, we organised for all staff and students to receive an official wrist band to wear around the school and community. This helped create a level of support and discussion around the day that was extremely visible and effective. Some of the activities that were completed on the day will also be uploaded here over the weekend. Ruby has even showed her support by wearing a wristband!

Some excellent videos to watch at home can be found here:

https://bullyingnoway.gov.au/Resources/Videos

Some interesting facts and figures also include…

  • Approximately one in four Year 4 to Year 9 Australian students (27%) reported being bullied every few weeks or more often (considered to be frequent) in a national study in 2009.
  • Frequent school bullying was highest among Year 5 (32%) and Year 8 (29%) students.
  • 83% of students who bully others online also bully others in person.
  • 84% of students who were bullied online were also bullied in person.
  • Peers are present as onlookers in 85% of bullying interactions, and play a central role in the bullying process.
  • Hurtful teasing was the most prevalent of all bullying behaviours experienced by students, followed by having hurtful lies told about them.

Source: https://bullyingnoway.gov.au/WhatIsBullying/FactsAndFigures

International Women’s Day 2019

This Friday, March 8th is International Women’s Day. Taken from unwomen.org.au:

“In Australia for IWD 2019, UN Women NC Australia is joining forces with Chief Executive Women and Male Champions of Change to focus on a national theme of ‘More Powerful Together’. This theme recognises the important role we all play – as women, men, non-binary and gender diverse people. It takes all of us, working in collaboration and across that which sometimes divides us, breaking down stereotypes and gendered roles to create a world where women and girls everywhere have equal rights and opportunities. More Powerful Together is a clarion call to stand in unison for gender equality”.

We’ll be doing some activities in the classroom this week to mark this important day so we’ll share those over the coming week.

In the meantime, here are some interesting videos for International Women’s Day.

National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence

Orchard Grove is proud to announce that we are now an officially registered school for the National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence. This is a really natural fit with the Respectful Relationships Initiative and our five School Values of:

  • Respect
  • Valuing Diversity
  • Integrity
  • Working Together
  • Fostering Growth

We look forward to marking the National Day on March 15th, as it will provide a targeted opportunity to explore the topic with the kids with some engaging activities. It is also important to note that, while this one day highlights the different ways we can respond and prevent bullying, this is something that, as a school community, is always front of mind. There are some really helpful resources for parents and carers here:

https://bullyingnoway.gov.au/YourRole/Pages/For-Parents-and-carers.aspx

We Believe: The Best Men Can Be | Gillette (Short Film)

Although this is essentially an advertising campaign, it communicates a really important message about taking action on bullying, harassment and respect across and within our community. A great discussion starter.

Respectful Relationships Student Forum
On Tuesday, November 20th, 8 students, Miss Cant and Mr Todd headed off to St Charles Borromeo Primary School, for a Student Forum about the Respectful Relationships initiative. The day aimed to promote student voice, and create an opportunity for students to learn more about the initiative, and produce a 2019 Action Plan for their school. The students who were selected to come along for the day did a fantastic job of participating, and showed the Orchard Grove way at all times. These students were:

3GT: Amelia
3SR: Stephanie
3AH: Isabel
3AT: Will
4KM: Zane
4KG: Cale
4MA: Lily
4DW: Cassie

The aim of the forum was to support a whole-school approach in gender equity, respect and inclusion, and provide an opportunity for students to directly have their voice and ideas heard. At the end of the forum, we left with a Respectful Relationships Student Action Plan to be implemented in 2019, which the students came up with all by themselves. They did a fantastic job and brainstormed some amazing ideas that we look forward to sharing at a whole-school level
next year.

3AT completed a special edition of Circle Time to coincide with World Kindness Day (November 13th). We made a podcast of it, and hope you enjoy! A great idea to do around the dinner table if you get the chance.

Circle Time: Compliment Edition

Start being kind today!

Have we forgotten how to make friends?

In the classroom

For this activity, and in small groups, students had to rate how serious certain scenarios were (from 1 to 10). Students then had to think about which problems they could solve easily by themselves, and which ones they would require a friend or adult/teacher to help them. Scenarios ranged from losing their pencil to seeing their baby brother with a spider in his mouth. We then shared each group’s answers, and gave the scenarios an average score. It helped show the children how many problems could be solved independently, along with highlighting when it is essential that help is sought from an adult. We also had a respectful discussion around different views/scores and why they may have varied between groups and individuals.

Gender Stereotypes: Are you getting the message?

Poster Resource: “It’s OK to feel…”

Bullying . No Way! Website/Resources

The website & organisation behind the National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence has developed a four part mini-series that unpacks bullying. This first video explores the national definition of bullying for Australian schools:

The second video looks at one of the main features of bullying, the misuse of power in relationships.

The third of four in the ‘What is bullying?’ series of short animations, this video looks at one of the main features of bullying, that it is ongoing and repeated.

The fourth of four in the ‘What is bullying?’ series of short animations, this video looks at one of the main features of bullying, behaviours that can cause harm.

Let Books be Books!

Some really valid points are raised in this article. You only need to walk down the aisles of a book shop to see how gendered children’s books often are.

http://lettoysbetoys.org.uk/letbooksbebooks/

The Importance of Inclusion

This article highlights the importance of inclusion in our community. Whether that be in the media, at school, in the playground, or just in our everyday interactions with each other.

https://honey.nine.com.au/2017/04/03/16/36/down-sydnrome-child-model-handsome-boy-diversity-inclusive-acceptance#qYeBljoEl9PVsHyh.99

There’s also another important article about inclusive education:

http://www.startingwithjulius.org.au/inclusive-education-is-the-pathway-to-social-inclusion-european-review/

More information can be found at:

http://www.startingwithjulius.org.au/

Year 3 Character Strengths Activity

At the start of Term 3, the Year 3 classes completed a fun activity from the Respectful Relationships Resources. It was a fun game of pass the parcel where, under each layer, was a character strength card. When the music stopped on a student, they had to read out the character strength card they had just unwrapped, and then provide an example of a time when they’ve shown that character strength. It was a lot of fun! Afterwards, students explaining times they had displayed each strength, and then chose one to focus on developing during the term.

Great video celebrating the message that “Everyone’s Welcome” and we have more in common than we think

“How movies teach manhood” TEDx Talk

This simple comic strip raises a very valid point

This video explains the core ideas behind Respectful Relationships

An interesting experiment that really makes you think about the stereotypes that have ‘the norm’

“Just Breathe” video:

Filmmaker comments: “The inspiration for “Just Breathe” first came about a little over a year ago when I overheard my then 5-year-old son talking with his friend about how emotions affect different regions of the brain, and how to calm down by taking deep breaths — all things they were beginning to learn at their new school. As a filmmaker, I am always interested in finding a subject worthy of filming, and I felt strongly that Mindfulness was a necessary concept to communicate visually. Thankfully my husband, who happens to be my filmmaking partner, agreed. We made “Just Breathe” with our son, his classmates and their family members one Saturday afternoon. The film is entirely unscripted – what the kids say is based purely on their own neuro-scientific understanding of difficult emotions, and how they cope through breathing and meditation.”

Word use in advertising for boys and girls

These are some really interesting images that highlight the difference in word choices for advertisements aimed at boys and girls. It’s great to challenge these stereotypes wherever possible!

Cultural Diversity in AFL

This video is of AFL Multicultural Community Ambassador, Avtar, talking about his passion for football and his involvement with creating new Essendon District Football League club, the Hume Bombers.

This video, another in the 2018 series, tells the story of 18-year-old Brisbane Lions footballer Reuben William’s journey through footy. The William family is of South Sudanese heritage and migrated to Australia from Kenya as refugees in 2003.

This is also a great video to remind us all about how far AFL has come over the past year with the ever-growing AFLW.

Respectful Relationships Resources

The video we watched at the whole-school Assembly on the National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence. More details can be found at https://bullyingnoway.gov.au/

Great resources from the new OurWatch.org.au campaign aimed at parents/carers. More details can be found HERE

An interesting video from Norway. “But… we did the same job?”. Children beautifully REJECT the gender pay gap in heart-warming experiment:

Let’s change the story. More details available at https://www.ourwatch.org.au/