Drawing inspiration from National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence, St Patrick’s Parish School in Cooma created a ‘Strength in Gentleness Day’ to encapsulate the school motto and encourage students to approach each other with support and kindness to combat bullying behaviour.

‘Strength in Gentleness Day’ involved whole of school discussion and activities around social awareness and the importance of fostering a culture of respect for others in the wider school community.

Students were asked to design and create a petal of kindness based on their individual thoughts, ideas and prayers around the concept of kindness.

Over 200 petals representative of each student’s kind thoughts were turned into flowers of kindness that were then planted on the front lawn of the main building over the school holidays in time to welcome students and staff to Term 2. 

School Principal Frances Robertson said that the garden was a popular and engaging school activity that  is a daily reminder of the school’s dedication to promoting kindness and ‘Strength in Gentleness’.

“At St Patrick’s Parish School, we are striving to make the nourishment of our kindness an ongoing feature of our school, not just a response to a national focus day,” she said.

“We are a school where we grow children with kindness.”