Student Review of Domestic Violence: Sarah’s Legacy, 29thApril, St John’s School, Epping.
Years 7, 8, 9, 10 and 12. Carousel keynote sessions.
Sent by Pastoral / PSHE Coordinator, review written by Yr 12 student.
After watching the talk, I thought it was very moving although hard-hitting, I was enticed into Bernie’s storytelling skills which opened my eyes further to clear problems of domestic violence and sexual harassment that society faces today which are talked about too little and not recognised as a frequent cause of death.
We neglect problems that occur in other people’s private sphere and assemblies / talks like this one are successful in educating young people in what we can do as men or women to change the fatal path of women like Sarah. Not only is it helpful for further insights and knowledge in A level subjects like sociology, I now know more information and statistics – like the well known statistic that 97% of women (aged 18-24) have been sexually harassed – to educate others and shock them on seemingly absurd yet sadly realistic experiences women have dealt with.
The speaker in the talk looked at different ways of looking at the problems, for example, realising that facts in the media draw the focus on women as the victims and not as men as the perpetrator. This I found really fascinating as it is something I never noticed before, so we should be focussing on predominantly educating our sons instead of just protecting our daughters.
I left the assembly with overwhelming thought and sadder realisation of the shocking society we live in, yet I was enlightened positively from feeling more educated.
If you’d like to find out more about the PSHE / RSE sessions Bernie delivers on Domestic Abuse you can find the page here.
Empathy Lightbulbs also looks at healthy relationships and how to speak about them in PSHE / RSE.