Pomeroy Primary School is soon to be a no bullying institution.
The school recently hosted a Bullying Awareness Campaign, which proved to be a great success.
Every week the School Safety and Disciplinary Committee receive nearly 10 reports of learner bullying. This is a sobering figure. Even more sobering, however, is that for every case of abuse that is reported, other cases go unreported. Without an investigation stemming from an abuse report, a child remains in an unsafe learning situation, dropping performance, poor attendance of school, low self-esteem, dropping out which affects the pass rate of the school.
To help elevate awareness of learner abuse (bullying) and the importance of reporting suspected bullying, the Umzinyathi Education District conducted the Y-Cap workshops to create a statewide campaign to expose various problems experienced within and outside the school context.
While learners may be familiar with some types of bullying, such as physical bullying and verbal bullying, other types such as non-verbal bullying, sexual bullying, cyber bullying and social bullying may be less familiar.
The Youth Development Committee of Pomeroy Primary School formed the Y-Cap Team that consists of one educator, Palesa P Majola and 10 learners from Grades 6 and 7.
The Y-Cap Team identified the few problems existing in the school. Bullying was the first priority because of the number of cases reported.
The Y-Cap Team organised the Bullying Awareness Campaign and invited all stakeholders such as: District officials, SEM, SGB, parents, ward Councillors, learners and educators.
The District team of G and M, SNEZ- Special Education, Psycho-Social Services Component and the SEM supported the school in the Y-Cap programme, where officials took turns in providing speeches around bullying issues in order to empower the school community in education and addressing matters of bullying and its effects.
