ERASE Bullying
Whistler Secondary School takes a proactive approach to bullying. If you, or anyone you know, is a victim of bullying, please contact the school administration immediately.
ERASE Bullying Website – Click Here
Sextortion
In the past few weeks, Cybertip.ca has seen a rise in reports from youth involving sextortion. These cases have involved offenders (posing as teenagers) secretly recording teenagers exposing themselves online and then threatening to share the sexual content if they don’t pay money (often hundreds of dollars) to the individual.
In response to this emerging issue of concern, the Canadian Centre for Child Protection has issued a Cybertip.ca Alert for parents as well as a tip sheet on how parents can talk to youth about online extortion:
Alert: Click Here
Tip Sheet for Parents: Click Here
We also encourage all parents to sign-up for Cybertip.ca Alerts to receive information on concerning technology trends as they emerge. Click Here to sign-up:
Safe Schools Update
Light Up the World Purple for World Mental Health Day
October 10, 2019 is World Mental Health Day and this year’s theme is “Suicide Prevention”. This international day is a great opportunity to initiate school-based activities and dialogue regarding the issue of mental health and wellness.
World Mental Health Day coincides with the anniversary of Amanda Todd’s suicide. Many jurisdictions are “lighting up the world purple” by lighting up buildings, wearing something purple or making purple banners. The Amanda Todd Legacy Society has provided the following link for further information. http://lightuppurple2014.weebly.com/
The Great British Columbia ShakeOut Day – October 16th
October 16 is ShakeOut BC Day. Millions of people around the world will practice how to “Drop, Cover and Hold On” at 10:16 a.m. Our goal is to see all of our schools in BC officially register for the Great BC ShakeOut. Please take the time to register your school and check out the various earthquake preparedness resources – http://shakeoutbc.ca/
Canadian Centre for Child Protection – Cyberbullying Resource Launch
The Canadian Centre for Child Protection has launched two new educational modules for teachers to help address the growing issue of cyberbullying among teens. The Grades 7/8 educational unit focuses on reducing the incidence of adolescent sexual exploitation and the resulting tragedies involving Canadian youth. The Grade 9/10 module also addresses the growing concern of sexual violence among youth in dating relationships and within peer groups, as well as elevated risk of sexual exploitation whether online or by adults/older youth. More information about the modules can be found at: http://www.protectchildren.ca.
Cyber safety Resources for Girls
Cybersafe Girl is a public education program about social media safety and girls. The project is developed and supported by the Atlantic Ministers Responsible for the Status of Women in Canada to provide information to girls, families and educators about how girls can be safe online from cyber violence, sexual risk and online sexual predators. Additional information is available at: http://www.cybersafegirl.ca/index.php3?lang=E
Appropriate Halloween Costumes
The Children of the Street Society raises public awareness, education and early intervention strategies to prevent the sexual exploitation of children and youth while offering support to families. The letter is intended to be distributed to schools to encourage the community to be socially responsible by choosing Halloween costumes that do not glamorize either the perpetrators or the victims of child and youth sexual exploitation. Further information can be found by emailing [email protected].
Healthy Schools Update
Healthy School BC
Visit http://www.healthyschoolsbc.ca to:
- Find healthy schools programs, grants, resources and information
- Check out healthy schools success stories from BC schools
- Sign up for the Healthy Schools BC Newsletter
- Learn about the Healthy Schools Network and the Healthy Living Youth Council
NEW Concussion Awareness Training Tool (CATT)
Child Health BC has been involved in developing, evaluating and funding the Concussion Awareness Training Toolkit (CATT) which is now available online at http://www.cattonline.com/. This is a great resource for practitioners, coaches and parents to increase their awareness, recognition, and management of concussions in children and youth of BC.
Concussions Online Tool Recruitment
The Ministry of Health is developing a new online concussion training tool to support BC schools (www.cattonline.com). We are inviting administrators, teachers, and educational support staff to contribute to the development of the tool and accompanying resources. The work will include approximately 4 to 5 one hour teleconferences between October 2014 to February 2015, as well as feedback/consultation on the tool outline, content and design. If you are interested in contributing, please forward your name and email address to [email protected] by October 15, 2014.
Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) Trends Report: 1990-2010
The Centre for Health Promotion, Public Health Agency of Canada released the HBSC Trends Report. The key findings include a decline in the prevalence of smoking among Canadian adolescents since the late 1990s and a reduction of unhealthy foods consumption including soft drinks. You can find a full copy of the report at: http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/hp-ps/dca-dea/prog-ini/school-scolaire/behaviour-comportements/trends-tendances-eng.php
Youth Mental Health Lesson Activity
The Fraser Health Authority with financial support from Coast Capital Savings developed the Healthy Minds, Health Youth: A Speak Up Lesson Activity for teachers to help increase students’ mental health literacy by enabling young people to gain knowledge about mental health problems and actions they can take to connect to supports early and quickly. This resource utilizes the model of students learning from their fellow students. The lesson activity can be downloaded at: http://mindcheck.ca/speakup/school-education