Anti-Homophobic Bullying
13th May 2016,
Dear Parents,
As you know, Skerries Educate Together has an Anti-Bullying policy that was designed in collaboration with students, parents and staff. We see this as a vital document and we take any issues of bullying very seriously. In previous years we have been proactive about teaching children how to recognise bullying behaviours, such as Cyberbullying, and equipped them with strategies to deal with these situations. This year, the school has chosen to focus on Anti-Homophobic bullying. Lessons will be taught in the coming days on the topic of families. This will explore the different types of family that children and adults will grow up in and engage with in their community.
A committee in the school has researched various resources to support the teaching of these lessons and a presentation was made to our Board of Management. The Board was incredibly enthusiastic about these lessons and fully supports the school in this matter. In addition to supporting the Anti-Bullying Policy, these lessons also form part of the SPHE Curriculum under the Strand of ‘Myself and My Family’.
In the coming days all classes will be learning about families and we would encourage parents to talk to their children about these lessons and to alllow healthy, age-appropriate dialogue about bullying.
The lessons themselves have been designed by the Irish National Teachers Organisation INTO and can be accessed at the following link: https://www.into.ie/lgbt/EducationalResources/DifferentFamiliesSameLove_LessonResources.pdf
Kind regards,
Tomás