20% of students aged 12-18 nationwide have experienced bullying at school. While cyberbullying remains an issue, bullying still happens in person on school grounds, with classrooms, hallways, and cafeterias being common areas where it takes place.
Whether it’s physical or psychological, students who experience bullying are at greater risk of depression and anxiety, in addition to having trouble in school academically. This only highlights how important it is to address bullying and work proactively to prevent it from happening in the first place.
This blog illustrates the types of signage available for anti-bullying campaigns that spread messages of support and tolerance. For further information or personalized advice, contact our team at Signworks today.
Defining Signs
The first step is to define what bullying is. It isn’t always overt, and having school signage that defines bullying can make children realize what they’re doing is wrong. For educators, work with your classroom or school as a whole to come to an understanding and agreement on what bullying is.
Types of Signs
Once you’ve established your school’s or classroom’s definition of bullying, it’s time to get started on your signs. But what type of sign is best? It depends on aspects like how old the children are— some are best suited to elementary school aged kids, while others are geared towards middle schoolers and high schoolers.
Pledge Wall
A pledge wall is a great way to utilize your school noticeboard. Make it a fun art project for younger kids by having them cut out outlines of their hands or other shapes on colorful construction paper. On the cut-outs, encourage them to write a pledge that will help stop bullying. For example, ‘I will ask others to play with me when they look lonely’ or ‘I will tell an adult if I see somebody being a bully’. Arrange them all on a large noticeboard to form a colorful wall of support and friendship.
Invent Fun Characters
Another fun way to encourage conversation by using signs is to make up an anti-bullying character who can be displayed around the school. Work with the younger children to create a creature, or a human, in whatever interesting way they come up with. Establish the character as the anti-bullying mascot, and display their image in areas such as cafeterias, hallways, and classrooms.
Classroom Rules
This type of signage works for children of any age. Coming up with classroom rules and then establishing signage that reinforces those rules is simple, yet effective. Keep the language short and simple and stick to clear ‘stop’ and ‘go’ colors like red and green. Work with your class to come up with examples and types of bullying and place them in the red signage. Do the same for the classroom rules and assign those rules to the green signs.
Friendship Bench
Not every sign is displayed on a wall. This bench is a sign in itself, and also an aid in fostering relationships. The friendship bench is a brightly painted bench which may or may not say Friendship Bench (or a similar name) on it, but is recognizable to all students. When a student sits on this bench it will signal to others that they are lonely and need a friend, somebody to talk to or a group of kids to play with. Adding signs next to or surrounding the bench can help younger children learn how to make new friends— display tips such as ‘ask questions’ and ‘give compliments’ and watch those little faces light up.
Computer Room Signage
Cyberbullying has been on the rise during the COVID-19 pandemic, with more kids learning online from home. Since coming back to classrooms, cyberbullying remains an issue. Establishing signs around computer rooms to remind children of what cyberbullying is can be a great asset to any school. Include tips for privacy, cyber-safety, and how to use social media in a healthy way.
Looking for Anti-Bullying Signage?
If you’re concerned about bullying in your school or classroom, we hope this article has given you some ideas for anti-bullying signage. Signworks is located in Indianapolis but provides services all throughout the United States.
To get started on your anti-bullying signs, contact Signworks today.