Photo of Kells Elementary’s Peace Ambassadors’ poster used during their No Name Calling Week to encourage fellow students to not call each other names!
Photo of Apple of God’s Eye International Academy trying out January’s monthly idea “The Helping Hands Tree” in their school!
WANDA CHOW
Burnaby NewsLeader
September 23, 2010
On Tuesday afternoon at Gilmore Community School, which has been undergoing major seismic upgrades the last couple years, there was a moment of peace–in more ways than one.
The roofers’ constantly rumbling asphalt machines fell silent for a few minutes as the entire school celebrated its commitment to being a positive, peaceful school with the raising of a special flag.
The flag marks Gilmore’s membership into Peaceful Schools International (PSI), which provides support and resources to schools wanting to educate students on peace.
Inspiring Peace
Carolyn Sloan
The Spectator
January 9, 2007
Founder of Peaceful Schools International, Hetty van Gurp of Granville Ferry, has been working with students, teachers, and administrators internationally to create a peaceful environment in the hallways and classrooms of the world, and to inspire an attitude of caring and acceptance between youth and their peers.
Recently named one of Canada’s Heroes of 2006 by Reader’s Digest, van Gurp now works from home with a full time volunteer occupation, helping PSI volunteers across the world share resources between schools working toward the goal of establishing an environment of peace.
Hilary Long
Wednesday September 27, 2006
The students and staff of St. Patrick’s School in Kinkora celebrated the International Day of Peace on Sept. 21 in a big way. The students created a giant peace sign made out of pinwheels they made over the past week. Each student planted at least two colourful pinwheels in the school yard, decorated with words about peace and drawing to visually depict it.
Principal John McCarroll said the idea for the celebration, called Pinwheels for Peace, came from Peaceful Schools International and is the first step to St. Patrick’s becoming a certified ‘peaceful’ school. “The school is working to become a certified peaceful school and this is one of the activities to begin that process,” said McCarroll. He added students are being sent to a conflict resolution workshop to become peer mediators and peace makers. The process will take about six months as a plan has to be in place to institute conflict resolution in the students. “Once we establish that in the school a survey is sent out to the students, parents and staff, completed and submitted for review and we are either certified or told we need to adjust some of our strategies,” he McCarroll said he did this in his previous school.
Continue reading Pinwheels for Peace an inspiring symbol for Kinkora pupils
The Dorset School "Peace Pals" program was initiated in 1997 under the direction of Diana Jackson.
A quote from a student:
It is a privilege to be a Peace Pal because we get to help people and help contribute in making Dorset a peaceful and a nicer place to be. Our job is to patrol the schoolyard and make sure that everyone is having fun and to make sure that everyone is safe. If there is a problem we can help the kids solve it by being a neutral mediator at the peace table. The peace table is a place that kids go when they need help resolving their conflicts. We have a peace path that they follow by answering the questions that it asks. The path helps the Peace Pals get both sides of the story and makes it easier for the Peace Pals to make suggestions on a resolution. The kids end up solving their own conflict by using the peace path and with a little help from a Peace Pal. With Peace Pals, kids enjoy coming to school.
Being a Peace Pal is a big responsibility but in the end it is worthwhile because we get to make a difference and make Dorset a very peaceful school.