When champions in educational settings are willing to work with health promotion staff around tough issues such as domestic and community violence the outcomes keep on flowing.
How does one tackle domestic violence awareness with grades five and six in a primary school setting? “ I started by telling Rosie Batty’s story of domestic violence and how she campaigned our government to have a Royal Commission into Family Violence after the tragic death of her son Luke” said Andrea Farley, Health Promotion worker for Gippsland Lakes Community Health.
Students were aware of the term domestic violence, and they were touched by the fact that a person their aged had been killed by his father. We brainstormed how to spread the word that violence of any kind was not on. Students developed messages, printed on postcards with support contacts on the back, to be disturbed throughout the community, designed tee shirt logos and posters, and wrote plays and rap songs.
Working in partnership with Save The Children Australia, we realised that there was no visual message produced by children regarding domestic violence. So, with production experts from Melbourne, the students were involved in creating a 4-minute message to everyone that violence is not ok!
With permission from students, the tee shirt design will be printed by the 16 Days of Activism Community working group and disturbed to participants of the community march against violence later this year. Students’ posters will be displayed in every shop in our regional towns and the video will be used to spread the message across other settings. These resources will be available later in the year.
From just one primary school - a registered Respectful Relationship school who walks the talk and has no barriers to having a community voice - this project has expanded into the broader community.
Ask, is your school a respectful relationships school? If not, why not?
Check out the Respectful Relationships website!
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