A Richmond elementary principal hopes for a deeper understanding of kindness and inclusion that goes beyond Pink Shirt Day.
Naomi Hazon, principal of Tamley elementary, said Pink Shirt Day is an important international event to push back against bullying and to highlight the strength of kindness - but it shouldn’t stop at just the one day.
Pink Shirt Day takes place in February – this year on Feb. 22 – but the school has year-round activities to focus on inclusion.
“We’ve had almost (one) event a month that focuses on building community and connectedness and fostering inclusion and strengthening our kids’ sense of identity to be proud of who they are,” said Hazon.
As part of this year’s pink-shirt activities, Hazon and the rest of the school staff are holding a series of activities for students, including reading books rooted in kindness and Indigenous perspectives.
But, to visually illustrate the meaning of the annual anti-bullying initiative, they are creating large pink shirts using words to express kindness.
Students will talk and reflect on the stories they read and integrate some of the text into their shirt designs, which will then be displayed around the school.
While Hazon only joined Tamley elementary last summer, she said it’s part of her agenda to consistently teach kids “values, kindness and creating an inclusive community.”
“A lot of our students are keen to participate and have a good understanding of what it means to be kind and be a good friend,” she said.
“But I do think that there’s still work to do in terms of going deeper with the bigger themes around really being inclusive.”
Hazon told the Richmond News dialogue is an important factor when it comes to learning and expressing issues.
“Everybody kind of brings their own… perspective when they share their thoughts out loud,” she said.
Older students in leadership positions, however, are given opportunities to approach pink-shirt day with a more “critical lens.”
“I certainly do think that (Pink Shirt Day) also opens the door for feeling more comfortable talking about challenging situations, how to overcome them … how to work through them and move forward,” Hazon said.
