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Bancroft’s First Anti Bullying Ambassadors
2 PASTORAL / MATHS AND SCIENCES
Jamil Haque, L6E (Anti Bullying Leader)
About a month ago the School
arranged for thirty pupils in East
House (ranging from Thirds to Lower
Sixth Formers) to become Anti-
Bullying Ambassadors for the Diana
Award. This involved a training day
which was run by a representative
of the Diana Award Foundation,
during which we did various
activities from getting to know each
other better to learning about the
different types of bullying and how
to deal with them.
This training was split into three sections:
our introduction to what the Anti-Bullying
Ambassadors were, learning about what
constitutes bullying and, finally, how to deal
with various bullying situations. The day
began when we all made our way to the
Great Hall and were introduced to Eleanor
Marsea, our trainer. She explained about the
Diana Award Foundation, a group set up to
continue Princess Diana’s legacy of believing
young people have the power to change the
world (which the Anti-Bullying Ambassadors
seek to do). We were shown videos of
Ambassadors from other schools as well as
a few minor celebrity Ambassadors, such as
Will Poulter. This helped us to get an idea of
the type of things we could do as a group,
from helping a child who feels excluded, to
hosting large scale charity events to help
raise awareness of the problem of bullying.
Eleanor went on to talk about her experience
of bullying when she was younger and how
she was picked on for various reasons. This
inspired many of us to share our experiences
with the group, a truly heart-warming activity
that helped us to understand that we were all
united in our distain of such cruel behaviour
and its effects. Next we discussed what
bullying really was and the three categories
it is split into: verbal, physical and indirect
bullying. We were each given scenarios
to sort into one of these groups and then
discussed why we had made our choices. We
spoke about the signs of bullying and how
to be aware of various physical symptoms
in our peers as well as how to signpost our
peers to get the support they might need. It
was here that, as a group, we all realised that
our role in the School was to help support
anyone experiencing any form of bullying and
make sure that Bancroft’s becomes a safer
environment where, eventually, a group such
as ours will no longer need to exist. Shortly
after this our training ended and we officially
all became Anti-Bullying Ambassadors on
behalf of the Diana Award.
As a group we meet once every half term
to discuss what we can do around School to
combat bullying, from putting up student-made
posters, to having a charity bake sale to raise
both awareness and money for larger, more
ambitious projects in the future. We are slowly
tying to promote the anti-bullying message
throughout the School and we are excited
about spreading kindness and compassion.
Primary Science Fair
Our L6 scientists were in action
last term at our Primary Science
Fair when they entertained over
two hundred visiting year 5 and 6
pupils from a wide range of local
primary schools. This year the Fair
took the theme of “Exploration and
Discovery” which was reflected in
the stalls organised by the Sixth
Formers.
As ever, there was a huge range of interests
shown: the Heart, Invisible Ink, Antibiotics
and Diseases, Space Travel, Planet
Exploration and Rocket Engines. The visitors
particularly enjoyed the stalls which gave
them the chance for a hands-on experience:
the slimier the better. Dr Elizabeth
Swinbank, Honorary Fellow in Science
Education, University of York, who visited
the fair and judged the stalls, was fulsome
in her praise, “All the teams are to be
commended for the energy and enthusiasm
that they put into the event. Throughout
a busy and demanding day, they were
clearly keen to engage with the visitors who
clustered excitedly around all the stands,
eager to see what was going on and to take
part. There was a real sense of excitement
amongst visitors and Sixth Formers alike.”
In addition, the visitors spent time exploring
aspects of all three major sciences: a
chemistry show gave an introduction to
exploring chemical
reactions; in physics they made their own
rockets and launched them on the school
field; biology gave a chance to discover how
we, and other living things, use some of our
senses.
Visiting pupils and their teachers were
enthusiastic about the day. Mr Paul Bezant
said that the children he brought with
him from Aldersbrook Primary had been
“really looking forward to the day” and had
enjoyed all the activities, especially the
chemistry and physics. Miss Andrews from
Woodford Green Prep School said the Fair
“gave the children experience of different
levels of science. Most of them will be going
to secondary school in September and is
gave them a taste of what they have to look
forward to.”