Hundreds of pupils from St Martin’s comprehensive school in Caerphilly have taken part in an international anti-bullying music video.
The pupils took part in the mannequin challenge, which featured anti-bullying messages from celebrities such as Doctor Who actress Jodie Whittaker, Friends star Courteney Cox, comedian Dawn French, Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul actor Bob Odenkirk, model Naomi Campbell, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air‘s Alfonso Ribeiro, American television personality Jerry Springer, actress Megan Fox, musician James Morrison, Monty Python‘s Sir Michael Palin and Monica Lewinsky.
The musical project was written and produced by ex-St Martin’s pupil Daniel Curtis and his wife, Laura.
Mr Curtis said: “Being the victim of bullying during my school years long ago has stayed with me throughout my life.
“There was a great amount of emotional resonance in revisiting the physical place where it happened to film this project.
“It has been a delight to see how the school is now completely different from decades ago, the pupils are happy and supportive of each other and there is a zero tolerance policy on bullying which is implemented extremely effectively.”
I attended st martins from 2014-2019 (just left last summer). During my first year there, a group of older boys would harass me on my way home from school. One day, I complained and a teaching assistant got me to go through a list of school photos to identify the students. A few days later, my head of year spoke to me about it and said she had spoken to them but didn’t believe it was them as they “good kids” who she had taught. I dropped it assuming I had got the wrong people and not wanting to cause a fuss. When they saw me next they mocked me about it.
I’m not talking about this to look for pity it was all a long time ago now, I also understand you shouldn’t judge a whole institution by one anecdote. However, when they first saw this article lots of people I know on social media who are at the school or have recently left complained about how it felt as if the staff there had little interest in their own experiences of bullying. Perhaps, St Martins should take a bit of its own advice on bullying before taking part in PR stunts with celebrities.