The days are gone when bullying just happened in the school yard or on the street. With social media, bullying can be happening in the home when your child is upstairs, apparently content and quiet.

On Facebook, for example, some children have been bullied by suddenly being “unfriended” by their class mates en masse. It can be devastating.

At Deepwater Public School in rural New England, they have put in place thoughtful practices with the aim of never getting that far. It’s in many ways an idyllic school which seems to get things right.

On the morning of the National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence, the schools’ acting principal had artist, Lloyd Hornsby, teach the kids how to paint “Bullying. No Way!” on canvas bags.

Lloyd was bullied as a child and turned on the bully, he says, becoming the bully himself (see video). 

Acting Principal, Rosh Mercer, explained what she taught the children about bullying: “Our message to children is that if they feel unhappy about the way they are being treated, talk to an adult.”

And on cyber-bullying, she said that children were taught never to say anything online that they wouldn’t say to a person face-to-face. “Unfriending is like saying ‘I don’t want to be your friend’, so don’t do it.”

“The more we can educate now and be pro-active about bullying, and give them strategies to cope, the easier it becomes for people to deal with in real life when they get older.”

The school has the police liaison officer there to give advice on, for example, keeping personal details secret – don’t disclose it online. Keep passwords secret.