Last week was New Zealand Anti-Bullying Week including Pink Shirt Day on Friday. The Sticks & Stones group as well as the Student Council here at Nayland College organised a range of activities to support anti-bullying.

While the heavy rain cancelled activities at the start of the week, many were enjoying making cupcakes on Wednesday and Thursday at lunchtimes. 

Students were able to come and decorate two premade cupcakes, one to keep for themselves and the other to give to another student as an unexpected surprise. We saw many colorful, creative icing designs and it was lovely to see students' happy faces when they were given a cupcake from one of their peers. 

A group of students spent their lunchtime on Thursday outside in the sun painting kindness rocks to share with their friends and teachers or place around the garden. Great conversations and positive energy! During interval on Thursday some members of the student council handed out kindness cards. These small cards had friendly notes on them which students could give to someone to spread a cheerful thought and inspire kindness. 

On Friday we had jump jam, Taea Staples who took charge of organizing this activity had this to say, "Jump Jam was a vibrant and fun event to organize. It was a small turnout, due to the majority of seniors leaving on Friday, but the small group that was there was super enthusiastic and bubbly. It was a successful event and a fantastic way to end anti-bullying week for 2021. In fact, teachers thought Jump Jam was such a success, they want to continue doing Jump Jam during lunchtimes at kura."

We finished off the week on Friday with Pink Shirt Day. Pink Shirt Day works to create schools, workplaces, communities and whānau where everyone feels safe, valued, and respected so it was great to see so many people wearing pink. Anti-Bullying Week isn't just confined to one week, it’s a good reminder for us to keep spreading kindness to all as we continue this year.