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We are a Belgian non-profit organisation.
Since 2007 we are providing proactive
anti-bullying support for the elementary schools
in Flanders region.
You can also visit our dutch website > here <
A creative prevention project for children between 3 and 5 years old
For too many children bullying is a painful torment. Some children are bullied, others don’t dare to respond, while some others see bullying as a way to get attention, … bullying is a problem that must be tackled at the roots.
Prevention is appropriate, necessary and better if started very young (kindergarten - from the age of 3 to 5 years) because awareness and changes in behavior have the best chance in succeeding at that age.
In kindergarten and primary schools throughout Belgium and The Netherlands, SWB offers practical and achievable prevention initiatives, mainly focused on the group and not only on the bullied or bully. These initiatives can connect with the existing programs on bullying, social skills, health, etc..
The interactive show "Chat buddy Victor" (for children of the first, second and third kindergarten) is the key project of SWB. Beneath that, we offer teachers also a hand puppet, an educational guide and different educational drawings.
The link to drug prevention may not seem immediately obvious at first glance. Yet prevention at this age is very important. The ability and courage to show emotions are essential in resilience. Instilling these skills from an early age is a perfect foundation for their later years. Often young adolescents turn to drugs or addictions because of insecurity, because they do not recognize, acknowledge and show their emotions.
The core project "Chat buddy Victor" is designed for children from 3 to 5 years
(pupils from the 1st, 2nd and 3rd kindergarten)
Usually the annoying behavior of children between the age of 3 and 6, can be labeled as teasing, arguing, fighting for attention, etc ... Generally, small children don’t have the intention to hurt others. Their unacceptable behavior is usually based on ‘own interests’. They want the best toy, they want to be the first, they want attention… This behavior is not the root of bullying. It just could be the base of bullying in later life.
But we do see young children being victimized more often than others, unable to defend themselves.
Enough reasons to initially focus on prevention initiatives on this young target group.
The reduction of Bullying at school by concrete interactive initiatives on the level of young children.
The combination of these 3 features makes SWB a unique and innovative project for all schools.
To help small children express their feelings and how to deal with acceptable and unacceptable behavior at school.
We tell the children that they are partly responsible for the good atmosphere, “the Feeling Good” in their group and that they can reduce annoying behaviors at school. We give them hints, clues on how to react on unacceptable behavior and how to give or ask for help. So the breeding ground for possible harassment can spontaneously vanish. The power of the group is therefore essential.
To give teachers clues and tools to reduce bullying in their schools as much as possible.
The teacher can use the initiatives of “school without bullying” daily in his/her class. He/she gives impulses to deal with one another in a different way. When children meet bullying, the teacher is often the first access point for the children. But to solve the problem it’s better to partly refer to the power and responsibility of the group.
To motivate the executives to pay attention to an integral policy on bullying and well-being.
To enlarge the impact for children and teachers it is necessary that the executives put the prevention initiatives in a larger policy on health and well-being. In Theory SWB is based on the prevention pyramid of Dr. Johan Declerck.
If a school wants to fight bullying, it needs to pay attention to the different aspects of a total prevention policy.
Self Determination Theory[1]
Based on the self determination theory SWB tries to engender the children a greater sense of responsibility for their actions. Through the interactive show and using the activities in the educational guide, SWB helps children to find their own solutions rather than giving them the answers. We ask questions as “What would you do?”, “What do you think?”. Children have to develop their own intrinsic motivation to make the best choices.
The importance of a high self-esteem
Children feeling good about themselves seem to coop better with conflicts and bullying and they tend to support the victims of bullying. SWB offers teachers creative tools to promote a healthy self esteem. SWB focuses on positive ‘green’ issues and solutions and considers all children as equal.
Experience based learning [2]
Youngsters learn from their experiences. That’s why SWB developed an offer of story’s (Kamishibai-format) additional to the show. For teachers working with these activities it is most important to stimulate children to reflect about what they saw, felt or discovered. SWB helps children to focus on how and why things happen.
Focus on the middle Childhood (age 3 – 5)
The social and emotional skills children develop between the ages of three and eight are crucial to succeed in future social interactions. Friendships get more and more important. Physical, social, and mental skills develop rapidly at this time. This is a critical age for children to develop confidence in all areas of life. It’s the principal reason why SWB focuses on this target group.
No Blame Philosophy [3]
The No Blame approach has proven to be very successful in providing positive solutions to bullying. Blaming and punishing lead to negative labelling and a negative atmosphere. SWB helps teachers to search positive answers by empowering the empathy and responsibility of all children.
[1] Based on the self-determination model of intrinsic motivation (Deci, 1980; Grolnick, Gurland, Jacob & Decourcey, 2002; Ryan, Connell & Deci, 1985)
[2] Based on the experiential learning theory of Davis Kolb. In the early 1970s, Kolb and Ron Fry developed the Experiential Learning Model (Kolb. D. A. and Fry, R. (1975) Toward an applied theory of experiential learning)
[3] Robinson George, Maines Barbara, ‘Bullying, a complete guide tot the support group method’- 2008
CHAT BUDY VICTOR
“Chat buddy Victor” is an interactive show for children of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd kindergarten (3 to 5 years old). They meet Victor, the hand puppet. Together with Victor the kids look for “green” and “red” behaviors, thoughts and
feelings (happy, sad, angry, scared).
THE HAND PUPPET
The hand puppet brings Victor alive in the classroom. It could be used during conversations about small and big issues.
The package includes the following elements
School Without Bullying is a non-profit association
This is our address
Hoogkamerstraat 337B
9140 Temse
Belgium
Managing director
fried@schoolwithoutbullying.eu
President of the association
Mr. Christian Agneessens
christian@schoolwithoutbullying.eu
(member of Rotary Deinze and president of the districts commission – D 2130)
Administration
Members of the board of the association
Mss. Kristl Habils
Mr. Serge Vaneeghem
Mr. Koen Ringoot
(member of Rotary Nieuwpoort-Westhoek and Governor 2020-2021 – D 2130)
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