On May 7th, Hawthorn welcomed a team member from BRAVE Education to facilitate the first of two engaging workshops on the theme of healthy relationships with our Grade 4-7 students. BRAVE Education inspires resilience through social and emotional skill workshops, training students, educators, parents/guardians, camps, school bus drivers, and educational institutions. It provides in-the-moment communication skills, conflict resolution for students, and behaviour transformation for educators. Deeply committed to supporting the well-being of every student, Hawthorn is happy to offer these talks about bullying, conflict, and relationships. Through them, we hope to help our students develop essential social-emotional skills, promote healthier relationships, and foster positive interactions throughout our school community and beyond.
In this first part of the workshop, our students were invited to engage with three specific challenges: learning to identify the signs of healthy and unhealthy relationships; learning that conflict is essential to friendship, and how to tell the difference between conflict and bullying; and evaluating an animated case study to apply their learning. Tyler, our workshop leader, skillfully addressed our students in two sessions, adapting the conversation first for our younger Grade 4-5 students and then for our Grade 6-7 students. For their part, our students eagerly participated in these talks which presented them with questions and conundrums that all of us can face in our daily lives with others.
Thank you to Ms Jurado, Director of Character Education, for reaching out to BRAVE and organizing this important discussion for our school. We are so looking forward to Part 2 of BRAVE’s workshop on May 22, when we can continue to build our skills in interpersonal prowess!
