Look who it is! Ask the children if they recognise these characters…have they been in their assemblies before? Introduce cat, mouse, dog. In last year’s assembly mouse was having some problems while doing gymnastics and dog was being unkind to him. We looked at what mouse could do & how Cat and the teacher helped. Last year AB week was ‘We’re better without bullying’. This year it is called ‘The future is ours, safe, fun and connected’. There are lots of ways of communicating with and staying in touch with people these days. With the help of Cat, Mouse and Dog, let’s look a little closer at how we use technology…

Hey Mouse, look at my cool new phone! Dog’s Mum has bought him a mobile phone so that he can keep in touch with her when he goes to stay with his Dad. How many of you have a mobile phone?

It is estimated that 59% of children aged 5-11 years old own a mobile phone. (stats from GSMA, 2011)

That’s over half of you in this room!

One morning, on the way home from school with Cat and Dog , Mouse wasn’t looking where he was going and walked straight into a hidden mousetrap that was lying on the ground.

Dog thought this was VERY funny and quickly got out his mobile phone to take pictures of Mouse.

Mouse hadn’t realised that Dog had been taking pictures Mouse hadn’t realised that Dog had been taking pictures. His tail hurt so he went home, upset, to tell his mum about what had happened to him.

“Chuckle”! “Giggle”! “Hee Hee”! The next day at school, mouse was sitting in class, reading a book, still a little sore from catching his tail in the mousetrap the day before. He began to hear giggling all around him…

When he looked around, he could see people looking at their computers and laughing. There was a photograph of him with his tail caught in the mousetrap on their screens…. They were laughing at him.

Dog had posted the photograph he had taken that day on a social network site called ‘Mousebook’ and everyone could see it.

Later on, in the playground, all his classmates made fun of Mouse. Mouse’s friend, Ellie Elephant was in the playground and saw what was happening to Mouse. She wasn’t joining in so didn’t see what it had to do with her.

What could Mouse do? Ask children what they think Mouse could do. Suggestions: Ask them to stop, ignore them, walk away, tell a teacher

Well, this teasing went on for the next few days and Mouse felt more and more unhappy. One day when he was walking to school, one of his class mates, Cat, saw Mouse walking all alone and looking sad and asked him what was the matter.

Mouse told Cat the story of how he got his tail trapped in a mouse trap on his way home from school, and how Dog had taken a picture and posted it onto a social network site, where everyone saw it and made fun of him. Cat could see that Mouse was very upset and had an idea.

Several Times On Purpose “Mouse”, he said…”what Dog did was unkind”. We have been told by Teacher Wise Owl that when someone does something to you several times on purpose and it makes you feel unhappy, then it is bullying.

Start Telling Other People We were also told that if you are being bullied you should start telling other people, to help make it stop. Would you like me to come with you to find Mr Wise Owl?

Yes please Cat… Mouse was so happy that someone had offered to help him.

Together, they went to find Mr Wise Owl and Mouse told him everything.

Mr Wise Owl told Mouse that he had done the right thing in telling him and that he would help to stop the bullying. He also thanked Cat for helping and said he had done a very kind thing.

Now that Mr Wise Owl knew what was happening, he went to find Dog. He explained that what Dog had done to Mouse was unacceptable and very unkind. He told Dog that even though he hadn’t physically hurt Mouse, what he had done was called ‘cyber bullying’ and was also very hurtful. Mr Wise Owl asked Dog to remove the photograph from Mousebook so that no-one else could see it.

Can anyone tell me what cyber bullying means? (Ask children)

Cyber bullying is when you use ICT (technology) such as mobile phones and computers to deliberately upset someone else

When Mr Wise Owl had explained to Dog how much his actions had upset Mouse, Dog felt very sorry. Mr Wise Owl also spoke to the rest of the class and explained to them that by joining in, laughing or even doing nothing to help, they had been as much to blame as Dog. He also told them that in standing by and not getting help, they had been what is known as ‘bystanders’.

Sorry Mouse… Sorry Mouse… Everyone in the class felt terrible once they understood how their actions had upset Mouse. They all said sorry to Mouse and made an extra effort to include him in all their games. Mouse felt much happier and was so pleased he asked for help.

“Always remember CAT”! Check Ask Tell When you see someone looking sad: Remember CAT Tell

Check that the person is ok Ask how you can help & Ask the bullies to stop if it is safe to Tell an adult that you trust Check if they are ok Ask if you can help or if it is safe Ask others to stop. Tell an adult you trust

As we have seen in this story, technology such as mobile phones and computers can be used to upset people. However, these things can also be very useful…who can tell me why? expect answers such as: Telephoning/texting people – communication Looking things up on the internet – browsing/research Shopping Playing games Online homework

Let’s all learn a lesson from what happened to Mouse and use technology in a positive way. Don’t be held back by cyber bullying.

The future is ours. Have fun, stay connected but most importantly, BE SAFE AND KEEP OTHERS SAFE.