Eighth Meeting
Preparing to share
This week the group were able to complete their designs and share their very important messages with the class. We talked about why our messages are very important and what we hoped could happen to make our ideas a reality.
The CP Investigators then discussed their thoughts and ideas about the project so far, in readiness for meeting their Headteacher next week…The group used the questions on this sheet to reflect on the project and think about how they would share their work and findings with others.
Resource: Questions to help share our work
Question for this week:
After spending time creating their designs and deciding upon important messages. The CP Investigator groups have been thinking more about empathy and why it is important to express our opinions and share our experiences with others. Have a conversation with your group about sharing and listening, let us know your ideas in the comments below.
Seventh Meeting
Inspiration and communication
This week the Children’s Parliament Investigators reflected on their design solutions and selected a message to make into a graphic communication. Using collaged paper, pens and tape the investigators created striking images that communicate their feelings around the themes discussed within the Children’s Parliament Investigates Bullying project.
Sixth Meeting
We are Designers
In this meeting, our Children’s Parliament investigators were introduced to some of the ideas behind graphic design. By exploring the visual elements and practicing their eye-for-design, the Investigators began to create a better solution to their Design Brief.
Children’s Parliament Investigates Bullying Design Brief:
Create a poster that will inspire and help others to make your school a happy, safe and friendly place to be. Your poster should include an inspirational message and you will use the visual elements to make your poster feel positive and eye-catching.
If you would like to try this activity in class then click the following links to download some resources to help you:
Eye for Design
Find a poster online that has been designed to help prevent bullying, you might want to choose one of the posters created by the CP Investigators. Once you have your poster, use the questions on this sheet to practice your eye-for-design and create your own poster success criteria: Eye for Design Questions Sheet
Design Brief
Download here: Design Brief
Share your finished posters with us on Twitter by using #CPinvestigates
Fifth Meeting
Think-Feel-Do
In this session the CP Investigators were asked to think about 5 adults they would talk to about being bullied; what do those adults need to THINK, FEEL & DO to help and what might adults THINK, FEEL & DO which may be unhelpful to them?
“If I’m being bullied I’m told to stay away from them and ignore them.”
“If I hit back I get into trouble.”
“I have asked for help and been told to ignore the bully and deal with it myself. My last resort was to hit out and this worked.”
“I think that some teachers are tired and don’t want to get involved or do anything.”
“We could talk to happy polite adults.”
“Don’t be like the “Gringe”. His heart is 3 ways too small.”
“Adults need to be sensitive. Younger teachers have more empathy for children. When teachers are “growly” it’s hard to approach them.”
Question for this week
This week the CP investigators discussed how adults should respond when children ask for help and support with bullying.
- Some of the CP Investigators thought that children shouldn’t have to prove that they are not “telling tales” before adults act on their behalf.
- Other CP Investigators thought that adults shouldn’t “just believe” children, but investigate the situation so that everyone was fairly treated.
How do you think adults should respond for children who report a bullying incident? Discuss with your group/class and let us know your ideas by leaving a comment at the bottom of the page.
Fourth Meeting
Sandy’s Story
In the fourth meeting of Children’s Parliament Investigates… the investigators explored the concept of empathy through hearing about a young boy named Sandy.
Empathy is when you are able to see things from somebody else’s perspective. By putting ourselves in others’ shoes and feeling what someone else is feeling, we can better understand how our choices impact on other people.
Our CP Investigators listened to Sandy’s story and afterwards explored ways that the story could be better for Sandy. To read Sandy’s Story for yourself please click the link:
CP Investigates (Sandy’s Story)
“Speaking up and telling a teacher is important (when you are being bullied).”
“Ben should walk in Sandy’s shoes.”
“Should be able to feel safe at school and safe talking to his teacher.”
“Sandy should have some privacy at home –have his own room.”
“His Mum should walk him to school.”
“He should have a breakfast and nice food.”
“Sandy shouldn’t have to walk his little sisters to school.”
“Sandy should feel like he can talk to his teachers about this kind of stuff. He should feel safe everywhere.”
“Ben should respect Sandy’s decisions.”
“Sandy –make him happy. Make him have a better lunch.”
Third Meeting
Dignometers
Things that take away our Human Dignity
“When people use you.”
“When people judge you.”
“When people raise their hands.”
“When people bully on social media.”
“When people make you aggressive.”
“Being shouted at.”
“Being laughed at.”
“When people think you are not good at anything.”
“When people shout at you it makes you feel sad and angry.”
“To not be believed.”
“To be called too fat or too skinny.”
“Bullying is not the thing that takes our dignity away, it is the words that hurt. The saying “sticks and stones can break my bones but words will never hurt me” is WRONG.”
“If you treat someone so well and nice and then they turn their back on you with words your whole world disappears in one word.”
Things that help us experience our Human Dignity
“The thing that gives dignity is when you finally find a real friend. It is not your brain telling you but all your senses telling you.”
“When you know you have someone to talk to about your thoughts.”
“Being you.”
“When people believe in you.”
“Being loved.”
“That feeling when you are needed.”
“Having friends.”
“You can be who you want to be.”
“Scoring a goal –achieving.”
“Don’t copy bullies.”
“Be considerate.”
“Making people laugh.”
“Being fast, best teammate, making them better.”
“Positive friends.”
“When people listen.”
“Doing things that you are good at.”
“When you feel like it’s easy.”
Second Meeting
In our second team meeting at Abbeyhill we discussed and explored together what we think is needed to make a Healthy – Happy – Safe school. We thought about our journey to school, our time in the classroom and our time in the playground.
We used words and pictures to express our views and ideas which we will share with you here;
“Adults need to listen and do something when something is wrong”
“Your friends and family are most important” (adults don’t always recognise this)
“Teachers need to think about how kids feel by thinking would I like that”
(happening to me)
“JUST DON’T BULLY”
“Adults listen to you and hope they care” (a wish)
” More PSA’s in the playground”
“PSA’S don’t listen to me”
“If I was being bullied I’d talk to a PSA”
“The respect you give to your friends give to everyone”
In our team we discussed how we have all had different experiences in school and if we were worried or concerned about something we had someone who we could speak to. What was important to us was our past experiences of and relationship with the adult we chose to speak to. We need adults to be kind, to have the time to listen and to make bullying stop when it happens.
We also discussed how feeling safe and feeling happy are closely connected and how when we argue with each other we feel frustrated, angry and sad.
Questions for this week
In the mean time find a couple of friends and discuss the questions below, let us know what your group thinks in the comments section at the bottom of your page:
- What do you want adults to do to support children who are concerned about bullying?
- What do you think is needed to make school a healthy-happy-safe space for everyone?
First Meeting
Self Portraits and forming our team
Graeme and Ross from Children’s Parliament (CP) visited today to begin work with our 6 new Children’s Parliament Investigators (names from each school) on our CP Investigates Bullying Project.
Our first team meeting was about getting to know each other, being curious and asking questions about the project and discussing how we will work with each other as a team.
Ross took photographs of us and we used them to produce self-portraits which we used to think about and share with each other the “Things that we like to do – The places that we like to be – The people that we love and spend time with – The things that we have learned about the world and about ourselves”
We thought about and discussed some of the most important things that we need to make a world that is healthy – happy and safe for us and for all children.
We hope that other members of our school community, Head teacher, teachers, PSA’s and our classmates will join us here on our blog and we welcome all of your comments and suggestions on the work that we are doing and how together we can create a safe space to learn and be the best that we can be.
Now that the water is running again(!) the sessions can continue uninterrupted – I’m looking forward to hearing what everyone says in response to your questions.
Today we discused with our classmates what we felt adults could do to support children who were being bullied. There was a general feeling that adults are resposible for making sure children are safe and that it is important that we feel supported and believed. Most of us felt that bullies should be punished (e.g.detention) but that those children with issues should also get help. We agreed that parents had a responsibility in supporting children too by monitoring them at home to make sure they are using social media appropriately and safely. To make the school a safer place a number of us said there should be more PSAs out in the playground. It was also suggested that hidden security cameras in the classrooms which parents could watch would also help to stop bullying. We said that if the school is a happy place and everyone is made to feel equal then we are more likely to be kind to each other.
These are really interesting thoughts everyone, especially about social media and the effect that it can have on how we all behave towards each other in school. Make sure you discuss this with the rest of the class and there will be an opportunity to share your thoughts at assembly coming up soon.
In class today we looked at the blog and talked about our thoughts and feelings to the question: “How do you think adults should respond for children who report a bullying incident?”
Some of our thoughts were:
“An adult should deal with it and actually do something” – Kacper.
“An adult should always ask you if you want them to speak to someone else about it” – Damian
“I think there should be more lessons/information in school about what to do if you are being bullied/how to deal with it.” – Alex
We had a really interesting and useful discussion in class – thanks for posting us the question to think about 🙂
Thanks for letting us know, great to hear some views from other children in the class too. Please let us know if you have any more conversations that link to the project themes, we are keen to hear as many views as possible.