Students at l’École des Sept-sommets celebrated Pink Shirt Day on Wednesday and worked on establishing a new buddy system.
The new buddy system will be implemented as part of Kindness Week, and will see older children at the school act as buddies, or super heroes, for the younger children. The older kids are working on super hero costumes they can wear while fulfilling their new role.
“When we unveil the project, the kids will be wearing their costumes so everyone knows that they’re the super heroes and that they can turn to them if they have any issues or problems,” said Marie-Josée Beaulieu, principal.
Students were going to make a video on Wednesday as part of their application for funding to School District 93.
“Each school that submits a project, receives $400 toward the project,” explained Beaulieu. “Why [the district] is giving us some money is because they’re hoping it will have a long lasting effect.”
Students said they’d like to have room where buddies can discuss things in private.
“That’s in the works, because it’s also a supervision issue for us, so we’ll see” said Beaulieu.
They’d also like to have a party at the end of the year for everyone involved in the program.
The older students are also preparing for their new roles during their leadership time in class.
“They’ve been working a lot on how to accompany other kids, how to engage them, and make them feel better, listen to them,” said Beaulieu. “But you know, we’ve been clear that they’re not counsellors and that’s not their role. It’s more like being a peer that if someone else has a problem they can turn to them.”