Ste Anne students tackle bullying

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This article was published 17/04/2015 (3288 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Elementary school students in Ste Anne were recognized by the Canadian Red Cross for a video shoot that produced a realistic response to the type of bullying that can happen in a school setting.

Corinne Ambrosio is the guidance counsellor at Ste Anne Elementary. She heard about the Red Cross Day of Pink video festival and felt it was worth presenting the idea to the students on the Respect Ed. Team.

“They were all for doing a video,” Ambrosio said about the response she got. “We brainstormed ideas during their lunch hours, we wrote and re-wrote the script many times before we filmed it and submitted it.”

Ambrosio said she was surprised to hear they were one of the top three selected.

The goal for the video was to show how people can be respectful.

“One of the students said she would like to know how to respond when witnessing bullying. So we wanted to show students how they could stand up for victims of bullying. Maybe one of the reasons we were selected in the top three was because we were able to clearly demonstrate what to do in those situations, I’m not sure.”

Ambrosio believes this project has had a significant impact on all the students involved in making the video by empowering them with tools to use when they see someone being mistreated.

During the Day of Pink last week Wednesday, the video was shown to the entire school and the Respect Ed. Team visited classes to further discuss the topic and explore realistic approaches in dealing with situations of bullying.

The terms “bully” and “bullying” are often heard these days and Ambrosio suggested that they might be over-used.

“Absolutely. As a school, we try to use to word “conflict” more often than bullying,” she said. “In my position as a guidance counsellor here, it’s mostly about learning how to deal with conflict.”

She noted there are some cases of cyber-bullying that require adult intervention. For the most part, Ambrosio believes a lot of conflict is the result of miscommunication. That leads to another discussion about the increased use of technology for communication and the decline of face to face discussions with people.

“The goal is for students to be able to solve their own battles with using appropriate communication, that’s always the starting place. So many conflicts are the result of misunderstandings or miscommunication.”

Ambrosio encourages parents to have meaningful conversations with their children, more than giving a list of things the child needs to do.

“And really listen to children. Give them strategies for problem solving.”

She also urges parents to realize that conflict is a two-way street.

“Know both sides of the story.”

Videos can be viewed on Youtube, titled 2015 Canadian Red Cross Day of Pink Film Festival. The Ste Anne video is called Hear Our Voice Video.