Classroom activities and school events

Classroom activities and school events are a great way to get students learning and talking about bullying. They contribute to a universal approach and curriculum to promote social and emotional learning, one of the nine elements of a The Bullying-Free NZ School Framework, a whole-school approach to bullying prevention.

These activity ideas from a range of sources aim to help students develop their understanding of bullying behaviour and their role in bullying prevention. They are designed to explore what bullying is, the types of bullying, and the feelings involved in a bullying incident, and to help students think about who they can turn to for support.

Each activity should promote discussion. They can be used as a stand-alone short task, or you can combine several activities for a longer session. You may want to adapt them to your particular students' needs.

Giving students opportunities to talk about bullying is an essential part of making a positive change.  However, talking about bullying can also raise issues that schools may not have been aware of previously, or can sometimes lead to increased bullying for some students. All school staff should be aware of how to respond to reports of bullying and that, where needed, support and appropriate intervention is available to everyone involved.

The New Zealand Curriculum / Te Marautanga o Aotearoa

For maximum impact, bullying prevention approaches should align with good teaching practice and the New Zealand Curriculum / Te Marautanga o Aotearoa – for example, as part of teaching the key competencies:

• managing self – this competency is associated with self-motivation, a can-do attitude and students seeing themselves as capable learners
• relating to others – this competency is about interacting effectively with a diverse range of people in varying contexts
• participating and contributing – this competency is about being activity involved in communities.

It should also align with the Health and Physical Education (HPE) learning area of the curriculum.

Classroom posters for primary and intermediate

Use this set of 4 posters to help your students understand what bullying is and what they can do if they're being bullied or see it happening.

Each poster includes a space for students and staff to add what they do at their school to be a Bullying-Free NZ school. Posters are laminated so that if you use a whiteboard marker pen, you can wipe and reuse the resource.

Explore bullying prevention classroom activities

• For students of all ages
• For primary and intermediate students
• For intermediate and senior students

Browse other resources to use in the classroom

• A wellbeing and mental health teaching resource for teachers
• a series of videos with All Black Sam Whitelock
• Oat the Goat digital story book for 4-7 year olds
• books for younger children
• videos resources.