It's cool to be kind says school

A WARRINGTON high school has been inspired to go above and beyond to encourage anti-bullying within the school.
St Gregory’s RC High School launched the initiative “It’s cool to be kind” after taking part in the national Anti-Bullying Week drive in the summer.
All year 7’s in the school attended a special assembly to launch “It’s cool to be kind” week and were taken on a journey inspired by John Lewis’s very own Monty the Penguin, who was shown to be looking very sad and lonely.
The assembly saw representatives from each class help the life-sized penguin move through the school on his journey toward happiness. During each stage of the journey, the children came up with a person or a place in the school where they can get help.
At the end of the assembly, the pupils decided that it was friendship that would make “Monty” happy – and at this point, his friend “Mabel” appeared.
Staff also showed their commitment to anti-bullying by making “It’s cool to be kind” t-shirts and all staff and governors have volunteered to wear one during the during the week. Anti-bullying wristbands will also be on sale to pupils in the school as a non-profit enterprise.
The borough council’s operational director for children and young people’s services, Sarah Callaghan and lead member for children and young people, Cllr Jean Carter, also paid the school a visit to see the anti-bullying display and to talk to pupils about what they were doing to tackle bullying.
Headteacher Paul Heitzman said: “We felt that it was vital to stress to our pupils the importance of being a good friend and looking out for someone. We also wanted to make the pupils aware of who and where they can go to for help and support.
“During the assembly, we also launched our kindness box where each pupil picked out another pupils name who they then had to do something nice for.
“As staff, we are all committed to encouraging anti-bullying and I hope this special initiative gave the pupils some food for thought.”
Cllr Carter said: “We had a wonderful time at the school and were delighted with this creative idea and seeing the pupils getting involved and learning. This is an important issue and it’s vital that pupils and students in Warrington know who and where to go to for help. The ‘It’s cool to be kind’ initiative is a great way for young people to learn the importance of respecting and caring for one another.”