On Friday, 18 March  our College joined the rest of the nation to participate in our National Day of Action Bullying and Violence (NDA), better known here as, You Matter Day.

It was so heart-warming to actually have an opportunity be together as a school community. We were surrounded by a sea of orange colour from delicious cupcakes with orange icing to orange shirts, balloons, hats, and badges. How blessed we were to hear the singing of the choir along with many other activities and to simply feel the joy of experiencing community and fun together after months of COVID restrictions, it made this year’s YMD extra special.

This year’s theme for YMD was Kindness with a major of focus on kindness online. To support kindness online NDA has released a new animation series, Be Kind Online. This series promotes and encourages young people to block content, report it, and support each other. Take a look at the information here.

Kindness in essence is the opposite to being mean which tends to be at the heart of any bullying situation. As simplistic as it sounds if we promote kindness, meanness won’t have a voice. Kindness is also a value held by Christians and modelled by Jesus.

Apart from kindness to each other online the expression of kindness across all aspects of our community goes a long way to build a sense of people feeling they do matter.

To further promote YMD’s kindness theme, here’s a challenge for us all. Let the sight of something orange throughout this year, serve as a reminder to be kind to one another. Let’s act on the value of kindness and remember that every single person really does matter!

Blessings,

Sherrie Brook

Pastoral Care Team