It is always an attention grabber to start the assembly with loud music! At FSM, we expect our children to value the key values of kindness, honest and respect. We take acts of unkindness very seriously and, as it is anti-bullying week, we wanted to stress this even more to the children.
One area of vulnerability is on-line, and although most social media platforms have strict age limits, we are aware that some children have access to them at home. In order to help get the message across about the dangers young people face, we invited the musician, ‘Layla’, to the school today to perform a few of her songs and to deliver an important message to the children: Keep yourself safe on line. Never giving out personal information, never meet strangers online, stay safe on social network sites, follow your parents’ rules about the internet and social media. She also discussed cyber bullying and where to go for help. She shared a personal story about a time she was affected by cyber bullying, how she felt at the time, how she reacted, and the outcome of the situation.
On top of this, she asked the children to think of anything that might worry them and some brave children shared this with the group. Mostly they were worried about relationships with friends, how to resolve disputes and how work and exams could be very stressful. Layla gave them lots of examples about who to turn to for help and that it is normal to feel sad sometimes but it is important to find someone safe to talk to.
The feedback from the children was very positive and I think they got the message and they LOVED her singing!
Written by: Mrs Cochand