Did you know the term “bullying” is 123 years old? Bullying continues to be an issue among students, with many short-term, long-term, and other horrifying side effects.

When we see how bullying affects everyone involved, it’s no wonder schools have been campaigning against bullying for decades. While, in Ontario for example, incidents of bullying seem to have dropped recently, it’s far from eradicated. 

Maybe there’s a better approach to the situation. Maybe, instead of trying to stop the bad, we should be putting more effort into encouraging the good. 

Intentional kindness vs. anti-bullying

It’s been documented that the words we choose and the way we think shapes our reality. 

People often speak about promoting “bullying prevention” or the “anti-bullying” movement. Of course, this comes from a good place, but it also makes it seem like bullying is inevitable. 

When we decide to foster “intentional kindness”, we aim to lift everyone up. Rather than focusing on the negative acts of bullying, we make the shift to encourage students to be good to each other.

The end goal is the same, but we can choose to focus on either the positive or the negative aspects depending on which phrases we use. 

Three tips for fostering intentional kindness in your school

Lead by example

Whether you’re working with teenagers or preschoolers, kindness is contagious. Go out of your way to be kind to a neighbour or a coworker and tell your students about it. Share what the other person’s reaction was, and how it made you feel.

This shows your students that you practice what you preach, but it also shows them how simple it can be to do something nice, and how good it makes you feel afterward.

Make kindness fun

Keep the momentum going by showing your students how fun it is to be kind to the people in their life! Maybe you can create an afternoon kindness club, kick off a week-long kindness challenge, or start a good-deeds-a-thon where students pledge acts of kindness. 

Feel free to add in some positive reinforcement by sharing some of the most outstanding deeds with the classroom or the entire school.

Try a kindness experiment

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by magnolia (@magnolia) on Aug 23, 2019 at 8:08am PDT

Chip and Joanna Gaines (yes, the stars of Fixer Upper) are issuing a challenge to make kindness loud. They’ve created flyers, available for download on their website, that are perfect for printing and hanging around the halls of your school.

Each flyer has a number of tags on it, each with a different good deed. Students can tear off a tag and make their chosen kind deed their mission for the week. 

Alternatively, try out this version which focuses on inward acts of kindness.

Photo day creates a lot of buzz and excitement for students. For school staff and administrators, though, let’s be real – it can sometimes be a bit of a hassle.

It doesn’t always have to be that way! By partnering with the right school photography company, photo day can actually be an absolute breeze for you and your staff. If you don’t believe us, it’s probably time to start looking around for a new provider.

Keep reading to find out what you deserve from a photography partner, so you know what to look for.

You forget photo day is happening…

…because that’s how stress-free your photography partner makes things. Their resourceful photographers have everything covered, and you don’t need to step in for anything.

A good school photography partner has your back and will only engage you when absolutely necessary. They understand how busy you are and do what they can to make sure photo day doesn’t cause you or your staff any headaches.

They take the work off your plate

It can be time-consuming ensuring everyone knows photo day is coming! A great school photo partner has all your photo day marketing covered: providing posters, flyers, and even templates for your school’s social media and newsletters.

The best school photography providers even proactively help you answer questions from parents. They have some sort of notification system in place to let parents know when photo day is and send out updates when proofs and orders are on their way. 

They keep your students’ data safe

Unfortunately, schools are becoming the next big target for hackers across North America. The state of Louisiana declared its first-ever state of emergency in 2019 after three of its school districts were victims of a cyberattack. 

While no organization can be completely immune to a cyberattack, it’s important to partner with a company that recognizes the importance of continually investing in secure systems, as cybersecurity is not a one-time investment. Choosing school vendors who prioritize data protection and security is one of the best ways to mitigate your risk of a data breach.

Need to find a great school photography vendor? Contact us to find out more about working with Edge Imaging!

Overworked and under-funded: this is the case for programs in many schools across the country. Fundraisers can be a ton of fun to plan for the right staff member, but time is a valuable resource that not everyone can spare. 

We’ve put together a list of our favourite school fundraising ideas, ranging in level of involvement needed from school administrators, for the 2019-2020 school year:

Yearbook

Sure, your school will receive a percentage of the cost of each book sold, but the best part about a yearbook fundraiser is all the ways it will benefit your students. The most obvious benefit for them is the end-product yearbook. The added bonus is by involving students in the creation process, yearbook can provide them the perfect opportunity to develop themselves and their skill sets.

By appointing a staff member as Yearbook Advisor and pulling together a student yearbook committee, you’ll be positioning students to develop soft skills like organization, teamwork, digital literacy, and more, which will aid them throughout their school career and eventually the workforce.

There is no better way to raise funds for your school this year than by equipping students with useful skills and a keepsake of their school year in the process.

Bake Sale

View this post on Instagram

The Edge team is raising money for @pinkshirtday today! Staff at our Burlington, ON lab and office brought in their fave treats to sell at our pink bake sale, with all proceeds going towards #bullyingprevention

A post shared by Edge Imaging (@edgeimaging) on Feb 28, 2019 at 11:37am PST

Have your cake and eat it too! Bake sales are the classic school fundraiser, and for good reason. 

Involving parents creates a sense of community within the school, and store-bought goods can be brought in where a nut-free issue needs to be solved. Those who like a theme can use a common goal or colour scheme to make the event more fun or lend itself to a cause, like we did for our 2019 Pink Shirt Day bullying prevention fundraiser.

It’s likely that few students, parents, or teachers will be able to resist the idea of a mid-day treat, meaning your school bake sale is sure to be a success.

Spring or Sibling Photo Day

Fall photo day is one of the students’ favourite days of the year, and parents love that traditional image of their child at the beginning of a new school year. 

Spring photo day allows parents a mid-year snap of their child that can be compared to their fall photo and help fill in the story of school year growth. Sibling photo day, on the other hand, provides parents with a  (possibly rare) photo of their children all getting along.

The best part? Spring and sibling photo days can be combined to take place on one day, to disturb the school environment as little as possible.

Book your yearbook or sibling photo day with Edge and start your school year fundraising today, with little to no planning required from your staff! Learn more here.