Films with a message, Anti-bullying in Lake St Martin

Last May 2025 grade 8 students in Lake St Martin were challenged to create films with a message on anti-bullying. The project was led by Intervention Support Facilitator Brett Banfield.

For the project, students were tasked to produce and direct their own films about the challenges of bullying and overcoming those challenges peacefully. Grade 8 students learned about the film process when they scripted, storyboarded, and directed their own scenarios in which a student or a few experienced bullying and how they confronted their bullies with maturity to resolve the problem. The grade 8 classes produced 3 scripts, and 3 storyboards into 3 films.

Along with lessons in conflict resolution, the students learned a cooperative team activity, film production, and creative skills in drafting their scripts and storyboards. A few team members stepped up as directors to their group projects, which added leadership skills to their growing repertoire of learned skills.

This September, the now grade 9 class looked back on their completed films in class. Students reacted with some shyness over their performances, but still took some valuable lessons from their project, including encouraging each other not to bully. With the project, students gained a deeper understanding of how unpleasant it feels to be bullied and how their actions affect others. The students look forward to this being a continued project for their underclassmen in the future.

When asked about their key takeaway from the project, students said, “Don’t bully!”