Kōrero mai, kōrero atu Mauri tū, mauri ora! Speak up, stand together Stop bullying! Today, we participated in Pink Shirt Day. We joined the sea of pink as schools and workplaces across Aotearoa united to stamp out bullying by celebrating diversity and promoting kindness and inclusion.

The day was about working together, promoting kindness and ensuring Milford School is a place where everyone feels valued, safe and respected regardless of gender, sexual orientation, age, ability, religion or cultural background.

Pink Shirt Day makes our kaupapa visible; however, teaching our students about diversity and inclusion is part of our school culture. At Milford School, we live by our four school values of respect, integrity, empathy and commitment. These are embedded in all that we do. The way we interact with each other, how we play and learn together, how we manage behaviour, and our expectations are all part of making our values visible.

Students are taught about the school values through the Resilience project, which aims to teach positive mental health strategies to build students' capacity and capability to deal with adversity. These are weekly lessons supported by a range of resources and a workbook. The lessons take place in their class with their teacher to ensure the student feel safe and supported to explore their feelings. Just like the school values, we cannot leave the teaching of these skills to chance, and teachers use a range of strategies, such as ‘circle time’ to connect with their students so that learning about the school values and positive mental health strategies is done in an away that is authentic and relevant. We are giving students the tools to thrive at school and in life.

It was wonderful to see so many students in pink, spreading aroha and kindness, and I hope you have heard of the Pink Shirt Day fun we had at school today!

All gold coin donations from Pink Shirt Day will support Mental Health Foundation to reduce bullying; by raising awareness about bullying prevention, funding education workshops and supplying thousands of free resources that promote inclusive workplaces, schools and communities.