Last week we welcomed Tim from the charity ‘Every action has consequences’ who presented an assembly to the senior school and an age appropriate assembly to older prep children, telling us the story of the tragic passing of his brother Adam. Adam was killed whilst trying to mediate in a fight when one punch which he couldn’t defend himself from, caused his head hit to the floor and the impact killed him.
Tim spoke about the consequences that all of the people involved have had to suffer and endure from this one senseless act. This was a very emotional session which really engaged our pupils who then got to reflect on what had happened. Tim and his family have used this most tragic event to educate over 200,000 people about personal responsibility, social responsibility, dealing with conflict and organ donation over the past 9 years.
Later in the day Tim ran workshops for groups of boys. In the senior school, this covered areas such as positive role models, Toxic masculinity, finding an emotion vocabulary amongst your peers or future partners, the origins of aggression in films, social media and video games and the effects of an echo chamber on the internet. The boys also learned about gender stereotypes, racism and becoming inclusive to appreciate the differences in people and societies.
Our prep children were asked to consider their video game usage and how they must be mindful of the content. Tim also dispelled many claims the children had read on social media and how they can be better young men to improve the future of society. The Prep boys had lots of questions for Tim and were fully engaged throughout.
The day had a real impact at Oakhill, many of our boys remained behind and shook hands with Tim thanking him for his work and apologising for the loss of his dear brother Adam. We hope to have Tim back to do some more reflective practice in school. We were left many follow up pieces of work that pupils will complete in the coming weeks in PSHE lessons. We encouraged pupils to discuss the issues at home with parents and share their views and what they had learned from the day.
Whilst the boys were in their workshops, all of the girls took part in ‘Girls on Board’ sessions with our specially trained staff who have become ’Girls on Board’ Ambassadors. This course educates staff on how to best deal with any friendship issues girls may encounter as they grow up. The girls are equipped and facilitated by staff to be able to acknowledge and deal with any friendship issues that they may encounter, reflecting on good behaviours towards each other and building empathy within their peer group. The course is designed to build resilience and equip girls with the skills to navigate their relationships throughout their lives both at Oakhill and beyond.