Anti-Bullying Day – September 2019

Anti-Bullying Day

Thursday, 26th September 2019

Guest speakers, a strong Poster Campaign and a lunch-time debate were the highlights of our anti-bullying day as we affirmed respect for the dignity of each member of our community both on-line and in person.

Mr John Dwyer from Stop cyberbullying.ie spoke to the 2nd and 4th Years about blindly clicking the ‘Agree’ button on your phone. John explained how nothing is ever deleted and that you’re truly relying on the social media companies to keep your data secure. John also spoke of the legal implications of sexting and how a boy can end up on the offenders register even though they are underage. He also guided the students through the process of “clicking” without thinking and the implications of commenting on posts automatically and how it can snowball into bullying.

3rd Years and 5th years were advised by Ms Maria Garvey from National Anti-Bullying Research and Resource Centre, DCU. Maria spoke on the definition of bullying and gave some examples of the effects bullying has on their academic and personal lives. Maria also spoke of the difficulty in resolving these incidents and how peers played an important role in this for both the bully and the victim. Finian Fallon spoke to our 6th Years about resilience and gave some very useful exercises in how to deal with stress.

I thank Ms Drew, Mr McKimm, Ms Markey, Ms McGlynn and our Student Well-being committee for their organisation of a very important day.

EVERY STUDENT IS ENTITLED TO AN EDUCATION FREE FROM FEAR AND INTIMIDATION.

BULLYING IS NOT TOLERATED AT BLACKROCK