Students, families and passionate educators, who are part of the 2025 Upstanders community gathered at Beaumaris Community Hall earlier this week for the launch of an anthology of five published books.
The Upstanders program, now in its 13th year, is an anti-bullying initiative that promotes being an upstander not a bystander. It invites young people to upskill their knowledge on social and emotional learning and exercise their creative talents in spreading positive community messages.
This year, 2025 Billilla Studio Artist and Bayside local Cassy Polimeni led 120 Grade 5 students from a network of five schools across Bayside to help them prepare their own stories for these books. The participating schools include Sandringham Primary School, Sandringham East Primary School, Brighton Beach Primary School, Beaumaris Primary School, and Hampton Primary School.
The students' stories are aimed at inspiring their fellow students and our community to speak up, find their voice, and support each other in the fight against bullying.
A copy of each book is available to borrow from each of our libraries.
