Principal's Comment

 Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College,

Today we celebrated 'Pink Shirt Day' which is a concept which was imported from an anti - bullying campaign established in Canada. It has grown in popularity and sees our College become a sea of pink once a year.

I spoke with staff this morning about the importance of reminding our students that everyday needs to be an anti- bullying day and we need to do our best to ensure that our school culture is focussed on bullying prevention work and that when bullying does occur, we move to stamp it out. Schools are often the focus for communities of this kind of work because of our ability to reach a wide range of young people with a focussed message. However, as families the first lessons regarding bullying must come from home.

In speaking to the staff I reminded them that Christ delivered the best lesson around bullying when he said :"Do unto others as you would have done unto you". Schools have no more of a moral mandate or compulsion to teach young people to respect others than families have, and whilst we may have access to a range of anti bullying programmes, one thing we cannot do is be young people's primary role model.

I was speaking to a family about our surveillance policy yesterday. At the College we have 33 cameras in operation including cameras in some offices and meeting rooms. The reason for this is that, as teachers we can often be the subject of bullying from students or caregivers. Schools, like supermarket workers, police, call centre workers, parking wardens and an increasing number of professions have had to have a way of defending themselves from false accusations and bullying behaviour from other adults. Whether this is an assault on a coach on the sideline or an unfounded accusation, a student hitting a teacher or a staff member having to physically restrain a student, we live in an age where surveillance is a necessity. Our cameras delete themselves after a week and we have several protocols which we work through in ensuring they are used in accordance with the law, which have been developed over the decade we have had them.

Bullying, though often spoken about in conjunction with teenagers and children, is a whole of society problem which is currently exacerbated by the behaviour, both online and in real life of adults, whether it be politicians, parents abusing other parents, attacks on volunteers or by opposite sides of social debates. This pink shirt day, our message is that we are all teachers of prosocial behaviour, that as a community, that every day is 'Pink Shirt Day' .

Have a good weekend.

God Bless

Jo