Terrific Tolerance Ambassadors Changing the Community 

March 27th 2014 

THE LOUNGE!

The lounge is a big hit with students and gives shy students a chance to have a break from their problems.  Students may feel free to share their problems with the tolerance ambassadors supervising.  In the lounge there is an area to relax, have fun and resolve problems.

We have a rota which organises which ambassadors must supervise the lounge each day.  The lounge averages 47 visitors per day; many of the visitors are boys in year 7 and 8. At least once a week, Ambassadors help out an upset student. 

A couple of the regular visitors told us what they thought of the lounge and how it helped them....

WHAT DO STUDENTS THINK OF THE LOUNGE?

Student Interview with Carlos – a young Tolerance Ambassador year 8

  1. Why do you go to the Lounge?

"It is a fun place to relax and have a good time."

2.Do you feel safe at the Lounge?

"Yes, as supervisors are making sure bullying does not occur."

3. Has the Lounge stopped or resolved your problems?

"No as i have had no problems with other students."

4.Have you experienced any negative behaviour at the Lounge?

"No everyone gets on with each other"

5. What do you like at the Lounge?

"The activities on offer, like pool."

6. Have you helped anyone else at the lounge - maybe given advice your were given previously?  

"No, as I have had no reports of bullying to me, but I have helped people get used to the lounge environment.  I also play with students to make them feel better."

Interview – Callum – Year 7 student 

  1. Why do you go to the Lounge?

"It is a fun, as there are lots of activities for use."

2. Do you feel safe at the Lounge?

"Yes, as ambassadors are keeping bullying away from the lounge."

3. Has the Lounge stopped or resolved your problems?

"Yes, as the ambassadors gave me advice on how to resolve the argument."

4. Have you experienced any negative behaviour at the Lounge?

"Yes, but the ambassadors quickly resolved the incident before it got too far."

5. What do you like at the Lounge?

"The computers, as I get to play games which is a nice contrast to a tough school day."


WHAT NEXT?

In the future we would like to continue with the current education and training program that we developed:  We would like to also:

  • Continue to lead in Bystander Defender training for every year 7 & 8 group – adapt Yr 8 to be more advanced.
  • Go and speak to students in more schools around the area.
  • Provide parents and carers with advice so that they are aware of how to help and support their child in the future.  


WHO ARE YOUR MEMBERS?

We are a group of students made up of various age, ethnicity and ability.  We work together to promote tolerance and equality in our school and local community.

WHAT IS YOUR AIM?

To make all members of the Abbey College Community feel welcome and safe by reducing incidents of bullying through the education of the community and promotion of tolerance.

We want students to have trust and confidence in all staff and to develop an atmosphere within the school where students feel they can tell someone about bullying incidents, in the knowledge that each will be dealt with consistently, effectively and confidentially.

WHAT DO YOU DO?

Since we began in the summer term of 2012 we have been very busy developing and promoting tolerance and equality by:

  • Developing the current Tolerance Policy used by the school.  This included improving incident form to make it easier and for students to understand it.
  • Carried out Fundraising
  • Received Training from  the Princess Diana Award – Anti-Bullying Ambassadors and Beat Bullying.
  • Hosted Ambassador Training for other local schools - Princess Diana – Anti-Bullying Training.
  • Develop and lead whole school training and activities for students to review Awareness of Bystander Defender Training and further raise awareness of Tolerance and Equality:
    • Designed commit activities based around the visit by Deaf Blind UK representative (Peter Skivington) to increase awareness and tolerance of those with disabilities.
    • Developed and led 'Bystander Defender Training' to all year 7 & 8 students, this was in order to teach students that they have an important job and with their help bullying can be reduced.
  • Voted for Tolerance Ambassador Captain and Two Deputy Students.
  • Develop and Run The Lounge which is a monitored place where students can go during lunch to hang out with friends and speak to a tolerance ambassador.
  • New email address to provide even more ways for students to seek advice: Tolerance@abbeycollege.cambs.sch.uk, this is our own email to make tolerance more important and to spread what we do.

HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU HAVE MADE AN IMPACT?

  • We work with staff to monitor effectiveness through student surveys and school data:
    • Fewer than 1/3, 21.6%) of students have reported being a victim of bullying during the 2012/2013 school year.  This was a reduction of 10.5% on the previous year.
    • The Safety Survey in Dec 13 indicated that 96% of students felt safe at school from bullying. The survey also showed that a very small percentage, 2.6%, of students reported regularly not feeling safe due to bullying. A further 1.3% of students report sometimes not feeling safe due to bullying.
    • A recent Year 7 survey (March 2014) showed that 2/3 of year 7 students felt confident in stepping into prevent or stop a bullying situation.  This was a 16% rise from the previous year.
    • 75.5% of student feel confident in reporting a bullying incidents to members of staff or Tolerance ambassadors.

WHAT DOES YOUR SCHOOL LEADERSHIP TEAM THINK ABOUT THE IMPACT YOU HAVE MADE?

The Senior Leadership Team feels the Tolerance Ambassadors have been integral to our school improvement over the past two years. They have acted maturely and are the embodiment of the school value of Tolerance. Students now have an additional person to speak to about any concerns they have who is specifically trained to provide them with good advice. We are immensely proud of their efforts and recognise the leadership they have shown to remove bullying from our school.   

A. Christoforou - Deputy Headteacher at Abbey College, Ramsey

 

Report Written by: The Tolerance Ambassadors. 

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