Solving Bullying – KiVa Schools
Te Raekura Redcliffs is proud to be a KiVa School.
KiVa stands for against bullying or anti-bullying. The KiVa program is a model funded by the Finnish Ministry of Education and developed by the University of Turku to reduce school bullying. KiVa has been shown to reduce bullying and increase well-being at school! In Finland, almost all primary schools are implementing the KiVa program.
KiVa is visible in many ways in the daily life at school. The students will take part in KiVa lessons (10 lessons, each consisting of two 45-minute sessions). The lessons include discussions, group work, short films about bullying, and role play. Their content proceeds from general topics such as the importance of respect in human relationships to the mechanism and consequences of bullying. Many lessons concentrate on the role a group can have in maintaining or stopping bullying; the students think about and practice different ways to resist bullying. The lessons are supplemented by an interactive KiVa antibullying online game.
The KiVa team and the class teacher tackle the bullying cases together
Each school has a task force, the KiVa team, which consists of at least three teachers or other members of the school staff. Together with the class teacher, they tackle the acute bullying cases. The school staff has been familiarized with ways to implement the KiVa program and tackle bullying cases. If you suspect your child is being bullied or you have a reason to believe that s/he is bullying others, please contact the school so that the matter can be dealt with as efficiently and as soon as possible. Discuss bullying together with your child even if s/he is not bullied or does not bully others. It is important that you and your child together think about what to do if someone is being bullied at his/her school.
You can learn more about KiVa at kivaprogram.net/nz/parents