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Chester County Press

Nottingham Elementary School marks Bullying Prevention Month

11/06/2013 02:44PM ● By Acl

Pictured at the recent anti-bullying assembly at Nottingham Elementary School are, from left, assistant principal Lisa Yingst and anti-bullying essay contest winners Matt Rinehimer, third grade; second grader Kevin Walsh, third grader Jocelyn Henderson, second grader Amelia Nagle, fourth graders Kiersten Martin and Cole Smith and principal William Vogt.

To raise awareness of the importance of educating children about the dangers of bullying behavior, Nottingham Elementary School held a series of classroom and school-wide activities to mark National Bullying Prevention Month in October.

Highlighting the initiative were two assemblies on Oct. 22 featuring Dialed Action Sports, a professional BMX stunt team.

"Nottingham is joining thousands of schools across America in an effort to raise awareness about the many negative effects bullying behavior can have on the lives of young people," said Principal William Vogt. "All children should be afforded the opportunity to come to school every day feeling safe, valued and respected. Through education and by working together to address the topic of bullying head-on, our society moves in a direction to achieve this goal."

Nottingham's guidance counselors and administrative team visited classrooms throughout the month, providing lessons and reading stories related to bullying behavior and engaging in class discussions on the subject. A school-wide Anti-Bullying Essay Contest received tremendous support from teachers and students, with one boy and one girl from each of the three grade levels (two through four) at Nottingham selected as winners from a pool of more than 325 essays.

To further bring the anti-bullying message to the forefront, Vogt promised to take part in the BMX assemblies as a way to acknowledge the students' outstanding participation in the essay contest. True to his word, Vogt sat below as the BMX riders flew their bikes over his head, and he was later joined in the fun by assistant principal Lisa Yingst and Oxford Area School District assistant superintendent Dr. Margaret Billings-Jones.