Natalie Lijovic – Head of Rashi House

Emanuel Says No to Bullying: Cybersafety workshop

On Thursday 2 March students in Years 7, 8 and 9 participated in a program called Project Rockit.  The workshops explore themes of diversity, belonging, respectful relationships, values and ethics, building student voice, leadership and empathy. They address cyberbullying and digital citizenship, developing a real understanding of current social networking sites and online youth culture. The program also makes students aware of how their online identities can have an impact on future opportunities, respect from peers and personal relationships in real life.

The workshop has been planned to supplement the module on Relationships (Loose Connections / Recognition/Building Bridges / Trust) outlined in the Year 8 Tutor Program.

Students in Year 8 said “Project Rockit gave us an insight on how we judge people without even thinking, especially on social media. They showed us photos of random people on social media and asked us for our honest opinions on them. In total, out of all the words that we used to describe them, 85% were negative and this didn’t really bother us until  they told us that the people were their family members and friends. It made us think twice about what we are going to say before we comment on a photo or judge someone. It also made us think twice about the photos we post on the internet. All in all, Project Rockit was extremely interesting and necessary”.

“Project Rockit was a really interesting educational experience. It encouraged us to think deeper about how and why we stereotype and what some of the terms we use actually mean. It got us to think more deeply about our first impressions of people, how we judge without context and automatically label strangers. I know that now I’ll be careful not to judge people too quickly and I enjoyed the way we were free to say what we thought without feeling like we were wrong, or unjust”.

“I thought it was really interesting as we learnt to not judge other people at first glance, think about the effects it will have and how we would feel if it was happening to us. I also found it was very helpful to have young people teach us this sort of thing”.

The overall goal of Emanuel School is to create and maintain a cyber-safety culture. We aim to open the mind, awaken the spirit and engage the whole being by valuing respect, responsibility, integrity and justice.

For more information, please visit the Project Rockit website www.projectrockit.com.au/