Anti-Bullying Week is taking place this week and is held in an effort to raise awareness of the negative impact bullying can have on a student's life.
The theme for this year's anti-bullying week is 'One Kind Word', which highlights the importance of being kind towards one another and how small acts of kindness can brighten a student's day.
As students have returned to in-person schooling due to having to switch to an online format during the pandemic, going back to school especially getting back into a routine and making new friends can be hard.
With one kind word, students are able to change another student's perspective by encouraging more words of kindness, which will in turn increase positivity and acceptance among students.
As part of the Anti-Bullying Week, Odd Socks Day is also celebrated on 15 November where individuals put on odd socks to raise awareness on bullying.
Odd Socks Day is not only celebrated by students with parents and staff also participating, to show their solidarity against bullying.
Additionally, Brighton College Dubai is one of the schools in Dubai that has planned events for students throughout the week to put an to bullying.
On 14 November, the Be Popular for Being Kind event will have students, parents and staff write kindness notes and put them on the kindness tree.
On 15 November, Odd Socks Day will be celebrated and on 16 November, the Make My Circle Bigger will have students interact with other children in the class that they do not constantly interact with.
You Can Sit With Us event on 17 November will encourage students to sit with a person they do not always spend time with and the last event of the week, Walk in Someone Else's Shoes, on 18 November will have the sixth formers showcase what it is like from someone else's perspective.
Dr Lene Janse van Rensburg, Lead Counsellor at Brighton College Dubai said, "Parents and teachers have the privilege to guard and guide children's stories. As role players, we are here to assist children to write their best life stories - stories of self-confidence, curiosity, kindness, backbone and self-love. All of us have experienced exclusion, prejudice and bias, whether in the playground or in the boardroom. At Brighton College Dubai we choose inclusivity, we choose diversity, we choose authenticity and multiple narratives. We choose to spread kindness."
