Students learn to fight back against bullying

A NATIONWIDE program aimed at reducing the impact of bullying in the classroom as well as online and beyond made its way to Bannockburn P-12 College last week.

The school’s year 7, 8 and 9 students spent last Tuesday to Thursday with facilitators behind youth-driven anti-bullying movement Project Rockit, who led workshops and seminars around how to deal with bullying and cyberbullying.

The project’s school program head Dot Bertrand said their visit was about teaching the next generation about what harmful actions can do to school communities.

“We’re talking about interpersonal bullying and also online bullying and unpacking the conversations around that,” she said.

“It’s been really informative and the young people here have so much to say even beyond the school gate and it’s been really insightful to hear the issues they’re having.

“It’s also been great to be able to talk about some of the tips and tricks from Project Rockit that are really relatable to young people today.”

Sessions focused on improving digital literacy as well as utilising tools to combat cyber-bullying, to the broader impact on the community as a whole.

Year 8 student Isobel is one of about 80 Bannockburn P-12 College pupils to participate in the program.

She said it was an insightful undertaking.

“They did lots of activities and sat us down, explained what bullying was and gave us some strategies to help us,” she said.

“What I found most informative was they gave us some suggestions on what to do when you see someone bullied.

“My favourite was the idea of taking the attention off the person being bullied by cracking a joke or something like that.”

Bannockburn P-12 College principal George Porter said he hopes to see Project Rockit’s impact at the school exceed beyond their three-day visit.

“They’re dealing with issues important to kids in that age group so it’s so good to have people that are trained to come out and engage and talk to them,” he said.

“It’s always ideal to have outside experts come in. The kids have been very engaged and the presenters have been fantastic in the way they’ve answered questions and raised issues.”

Ms Bertrand said an additional case study group also gave the team a wider insight into issues facing Bannockburn youth as a whole.

“I met with a small group of young people and they spoke about things like the level of racism, as well as climate issues and the amount of littering they experience in the school,” she said.

“They feel like, as young people, they need to take action to create a better environment.

“When we looked at beyond the school gates, they also spoke about the fact that alcohol and drugs in Bannockburn’s community is a actually a really big issue.

“One of our young year 7s said ‘it’s like we have more pubs than health resources. How are young people here meant to have a better future when we’re not set up for success?’ It was very insightful.”

Project Rockit’s visit to Bannockburn was supported with a grant from the Anthony Costa Foundation.

The movement will reach its 20th year in 2026, and has been introduced to 700,000 students since its inception.