Nova Central School District

Industry:

K-12 Schools

Description

The Safe Communities Project is a part of the Nova Central School District and was started as a part of the Safe and Caring Schools Initiative brought down by the Department of Education. This year is phase two of the program. Last year the program focused on educating all grade levels in the school system about bullying.

The main objective of the Safe Communities Project was to have a bullying awareness program delivered to preschool children, parents, community organizations and groups and the general public. This has been largely achieved through the Kinderstart program.

We have traveled throughout the Nova Central School District from Charlottetown to Norris Arm to Twillingate and Fogo and all points in between. We have been very warmly received and the majority of people recognize bullying as a serious issue for our children. We believe that education is key to helping prevent bullying incidents and through our presentations and public forums we hope to educate and inform people of the seriousness of bullying.

We developed a variety of presentations ranging from a puppet show for preschool children to a bully game for the older children to our power point presentation for parents and community leaders. We feel very proud of the work that we have done and it is our hope that this type of positive action will continue in the months and years to come. The members of the Safe Communities Project are:


Donna Walbourne is the Project Coordinator of the Safe Communities Project. Donna graduated from St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish with a degree in Psychology. She is currently working towards her Masters in Guidance and Counselling Psychology. Over the past few years she has traveled throughout the province talking to youth about peer mediation and counseling. She finds this work very rewarding and feels that this team has made positive changes towards preventing bullying incidents in our schools and communities.

For the past five years, Janice Henstridge has worked as a journalist throughout Newfoundland and Labrador and beyond. After attending the College of the North Atlantic in Stephenville, NL, Janice started her career as a reporter with CBC radio in Yellowknife. From there, she returned home and began working in the newspaper industry and for a short period hosted her own cable show. Throughout the past year, Janice has been doing contract work with CBC radio in Yellowknife, and feels the work the Safe Communities Project is doing is extremely important, as bullying affects everyone at some point of their life.

Fraser Pritchett is from Gambo, Newfoundland and Labrador, and has the privilege of being a parent of three girls and is also a Grandfather. Fraser was previously employed at the Gander Regional Youth Assessment Center working with young offenders and worked there until the facility closed its doors on Jan. 30/04. Fraser was bullied in High School and lately found out that he bullied a particular girl, during at least one winter in Elementary school. He has recently made his apologies to her.

Koren Budden hails from Baytona, Newfoundland and Labrador. After graduating high school Koren attended College of North Atlantic in Grand Falls Windsor where she completed the Programmer Analyst program specializing in networking. Koren's focus in the Safe Communities Project has been on enhancing the website. She is accomplishing this by making it more child friendly as well as providing additional information to parents and educators.