Team Kindness at St. Anthony
submitted by Jane Preston
In August 2023, St Anthony launched their Kindness Committee facilitated by our Spec. Ed. Tech Ms. Tanya Charles. The committee is comprised of 14 Grade 5 students who meet once a week to develop ideas to promote kindness.
One of their ideas was to have a kindness tree where acts of kindness could be celebrated and the whole school community could see how kindness was being spread across the school. Any acts of kindness receive a heart that the students can put on the tree and we watch the tree blossom over time.
Each week the committee announces that week’s act of kindness. This could be complimenting someone, saying please and thank you or holding the door open for others passing through.
As part of this initiative, the Kindness Committee arranged to go to the local CHSLD to play games with the residents, where everyone had lots of fun and the students came away feeling they had done something good. As part of their next visit, the students teamed up with the music teacher, Mr. Ingelevics, to perform for them before the winter break. Mr. I. brought some of his musician friends with him to come and join in the fun.
What would be a way to get the whole school involved? Have everyone part of Team Kindness!! Pink Shirt Day (Anti-Bullying Day) was just around the corner and one way to celebrate this day was for everyone to have a Team Kindness pink shirt. Team Kindness shirts were bought for every staff member and Home and School bought every student a pink Team Kindness t-shirt. Seeing everyone in the building wearing their pink shirts is a wonderful and unifying sight.
St Anthony is Team Kindness!!
