From the littlest children in the Pre-Prep and Nursery to the biggest in Year 8, we highlighted the importance of positive interactions and working together to foster a kind, caring community.
Caroline Oglethorpe, Head of Pre-Prep said: “As you would expect, anti-bullying is an important ongoing pastoral focus across the school. This week in the Pre-Prep, our activities are centring around three important messages: 'Be you, be kind, be your best self'. Our aim is to celebrate each child's uniqueness and cultivate an environment where both respect and kindness flourish.
The week was packed full of form times, assemblies, Learning4Life lessons, special events and Odd Socks Day – all designed to get everyone thinking and reflecting. As the year goes on, we will build on this week’s messages of kindness, tolerance and empathy.
“We’ve covered anti-bullying thoroughly and looked at it from so many angles. We’ve taken time to think and heard lots of positive messages. The visit from singer songwriter Casey McQuillen was powerful and the All Rise Workshop, which looked at bullying with Year 8 from the legal angle, was eye opening and amazing preparation for senior school life. Bullying is not a happy subject but it has been an incredibly positive week.”
Mr Pitman, Head of Learning for Life
Casey McQuillen
It was incredible to have the amazing Casey McQuillen lifting the roof of the Mill Hall for pupils in Years 7 & 8 during her #YouMatterTour. She was an incredible musician with a beautiful voice, but it was the stories she told and the lyrics she sang that had the biggest impact.
Casey spoke of her teenage years and shared her experiences of vulnerabilities & insecurities and overcoming them, of being bullied, and of fearing failure and realising that failure itself doesn’t matter.
She highlighted the importance of kindness and thinking before saying something that might hurt someone. “What you say might not be a big moment in your life, but it could be a big moment in someone else’s life”.
They were powerful stories and a fantastic launch for our Anti-Bullying Week.
Celebrating uniqueness
"Wearing odd socks and celebrating uniqueness was a great way to end our Anti-Bullying Week. It was a moment for us to feel lucky and celebrate being a community where we have such a variety of people."
Mrs Brown, Head of Pastoral Care
Mr Cousens, Head of Enrichment, presented dry Weetabix to four unsuspecting volunteers and suggested that our Chef gives us this every day for breakfast… no cereals, toasts, spreads, fruits, yoghurts of different flavours, no sausages, baked beans, fruit juices, sausages or scrambled eggs! “How boring, dull and grating that would be” he concluded as the audience groaned.
The pupil volunteers tried their best to eat their dry Weetabix but it wasn’t easy!
“It would be strange and boring if we were all the same. Look at us today – we all selected different odd socks and this sends an important message about celebrating what makes you unique. What makes you, you.”
Paperchain of kindness
“Kindness is oxygen, you can’t live without it.” Poppy, Year 6
The Kindness Committee alongside many, many pupil volunteers set to work on their kindness initiative: to create a paperchain of kindness that they hoped would stretch from the Prep School to the Pre-Prep. Each link containing a kind message.
There were some wonderful ideas from pupils from “Eat, sleep and dream kindness” to “Kindness unlocks everything.”
Hundreds of strips of paper, all containing kindness messages or pictures representing kindness, were drawn and written throughout the week by our pupils: from the 2 year olds in nursery all the way to our 13 year old Year 8s. The strips were linked together today by the Kindness Committee (Year 1-8) and stretched out across the 1XI cricket pitch between the Pre-Prep and Prep School.
Head of the Kindness Committee, Miss Hannan, said: “The kindness messages were incredibly thoughtful and came from the heart. It was wonderful to see all that goodwill and positivity in bright colours stretching so far! Kindness and empathy play a crucial role in preventing unkindness and bullying and so it has been fantastic to see everyone coming together to show that kindness really does flow throughout our school.”
“Thank you to all the pupils and staff who helped. I’d also like to thank the Kindness Committee who’ve shown such great enthusiasm since our first meeting of the term, and who are absolutely brimming with ideas to grow even more kindness at Westbourne House School.”
Meta-Mirror
Staff and pupils across the school used the Meta-Mirror to picture their 'best self'.
Meta-thinking is one of our superhero skills of self-regulation and self-reflection. Caroline Oglethorpe, Head of Pre-Prep said: "During Anti-Bullying Week, we focused on three important messages: 'Be you, be kind, be your best self'. We hope to empower our pupils to make the right choices and learn from their mistakes to be their best self. The Meta-Mirrors in the Pre-Prep foyer and red corridor in the Prep School asked them to do just that!"
All Rise Workshop - Cyberbullying
It was great to welcome ‘home’ the brilliant James Stewart – one time Westbourne House Year 4 teacher! He hosted one of his All Rise Workshops on cyberbullying and the law, for our Year 8 pupils (many of whom were his pupils in the past).
Mr Stewart told pupils: “Today is about awareness, prevention and keeping you safe in the future. I hope that by the end of this session, you’ll be able to navigate a safer path when you go online and understand what is lawful and what is not, as you begin your journey to your senior school.”
During the session, the children looked at what cyberbullying is, what type of online behaviours constitute cyberbullying and when cyberbullying can become a legal issue. They challenged misconceptions and identified boundaries for themselves and others.
Mr Stewart said: “You all need to be very careful and think hard about what you post on any social media platform, what you share with others and the importance of your digital footprint which always stays with you.”
Head of Pastoral Care and Year 8 , Mrs Brown, said: “When you leave Westbourne House School you are going to be around different people, different adults and different scenarios and you will have phones with you a lot of the time - which you don’t have here.
“We want you to feel confident about what’s ahead at such an exciting time in your lives. You now have information in your armoury, if you need it. We don’t want you to be scared, but feel a bit more prepared for your next school and a new environment.”
Our Year 8s were delighted to see Mr Stewart and work together in teams for their legal Oscars! Mr Stewart added: “It was lovely to see everyone, especially these Year 8 pupils who I knew so well in Year 4. They tackled this difficult subject with great maturity and I was very proud of how willing they were to contribute and share their views and concerns.”
Our pupils said: “It was fun and we learnt a bunch of new stuff we needed to know.”
“It was entertaining and we need this information.”
“It was very useful, this subject can be quite scary."
