Btec Bullying Assembly

Sarah introduced the stimuli to us: Bullying assembly.

We then were showed three stimuli. The first one was a video. The video was on people who had committed suicide due to bullying. After watching the video we shared our thoughts. these are as follows:

• Left us speechless
• Felt guilty for unknown reasons
• Shocked at how young they were
• Very touching to see their real names and pictures

The next thing we were shown was a poem called "I am". 

I am the person you bullied in school
I am the one who didn't know how to be cool
I am the person you alienated
I am the person you ridiculed and hated

I am the person who sat on their own
I am the person who walked home alone
I am the person you scared every day
I am the person who had nothing to say

I am the person with hurt in their eyes
I am the person you never saw cry
I am the person living alone with their fears
I am the person destroyed by their peers

I am the person who drowned in your scorn
I am the person who wished they hadn't been born
I am the person whose name you don't know
I am the person who just can't let go

I am the person destroyed for 'fun'
I am the person, but not the only one
I am the person who had feelings too
..and I am a person, JUST LIKE YOU!!!

Our response to this was:

• Really effective how they used the repetition. Made it more impactuous. 
• It made you realize that that would be how you'd feel if you were being bullied. 
• It uses really strong powerful words like scorn and hated. 

The next thing that we looked at was a newspaper artical. It was about a girl who hung herself with a tie because of bullying.

Cherelle Ardle was having "extreme problems" with bullying at her school and was finding it difficult to interact with other pupils, the hearing was told.

She had been locked in a cupboard and dragged down the stairs and once needed hospital treatment after a playground fight.

On the evening of December 3 last year, her lifeless body was found by stepfather Dale Evans in her bedroom at her home in Kennard Street, Ton Pentre, South Wales.

The inquest heard how the teenager wrote a suicide note on a blank page of a maths exercise book.
The note ended with the words: "I'm about to hang myself. If I keep writing after this, it hasn't worked."
Mr Evans told the inquest in Miskin, South Wales: "She was being bullied at school. There had been some trouble at school that day and I picked her up early.
"She went up to her room and had a bath but then stayed in her bedroom. I went to check on her at 8.30pm and found her hanging."
Trudy Robinson, a respite foster carer, who looked after the girl one weekend each month, told the inquest: "She was having extreme problems with bullying at school.
"She had been dragged downstairs and locked in a cupboard and had been taken to hospital on one occasion."
She described the girl as "exceptionally gifted academically and beautiful to look at", adding: "She was a joy to look after and liked to help in every way she could.
"She had just joined the Air Cadets and she had told me she wanted to be a pilot which I thought was a fabulous idea."
The inquest heard the Treorchy Comprehensive School pupil went to her bedroom after a row with her mother Deborah Evans over missing money from a money-box, which she eventually admitted taking.
Det Insp Nigel Cottle said: "Cherelle was generally the victim of bullying at school but on certain occasions she was the assailant in her own right. She had no problems with teachers but she had difficulty interacting with other pupils."
In a statement to police, her mother spoke of concerns about the bullying and said she felt it "impacted on Cherelle's quality of life".
The inquest also heard the girl was involved in a relationship with an older man, which was subject to an ongoing investigation by South Wales Police.
The coroner Philip Walters described the girl, from Ton Petre, Rhondda, as an intelligent and articulate teenager.
Recording an open verdict, Mr Walters said: "I really don't know why this has happened. It might be due to one thing, it might be due to a number of things.
"What I am satisfied is that I honestly don't think that this young lady intended to end her own life."
He said he was convinced the suicide note was a "cry for help" or was possibly to draw attention to herself.
Mr Walters also issued a warning to others who might be similarly tempted.
He said: "Young people are often not aware that if you tie a ligature around your neck it takes as little as five seconds to render you unconscious.
"Thereafter, death can occur any time up to quarter-of-an-hour.
"If you go down this route, this is final. There is no coming back."

We then discussed how this made us feel. This is as followed:

• Thought it was ridiculous how it made her out to be the person in the wrong
• Thought it was outrageous how it said she was only wanting attention. 
• Thought that we should be careful to not bring across that same message