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The BRIDGE BUILDERS® Program

Empowering Life Skills Pty Ltd

The BRIDGE BUILDERS® Program is a whole-school approach to equip children to be resilient, effective communicators, empowered to deal with everyday conflict, and reduce bullying. Suitable for years Pre-prep to Grade 6, staff and parents.

  • Online
  • NSW
  • QLD
  • SA
  • Tas

Pricing: Paid

Origin: Developed in Australia for Australian schooling contexts

Affiliations: Approved elsewhere: Be You

Product type: Program; Posters; Online resources (e.g. videos, games, tools, readings); Activity sheets; Student activities; Reference book; Professional learning; Presentation by an expert or speaker ; Whole school approach or initiative; Educator wellbeing resources or services; Learning modules; Class lesson plans

Contact details

Empowering Life Skills Pty Ltd
ABN: 74 607 866 240

https://empoweringlifeskills.com.au/programs/

EmpoweringLife@bigpond.com

Focus areas

  • Positive relationships

  • Belonging and inclusion

  • Mental health literacy and life skills

  • Self-regulation and engagement

  • Resilience and optimism

Curriculum alignment

  • Health and PE

Prospective users

Audience: Whole school universal (Tier 1)

Communities: Neurodiversity or disability

Context: School or centre-based, E-schools

Main beneficiaries: Early learning, Foundation/Prep, Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4, Year 5, Year 6

Delivery style: Delivered by program staff

Aims & approach

Aims: The BRIDGE BUILDERS® Program provides understanding, skills and a common language that teaches resilience and constructive, positive approaches to respond to conflict or bullying. It is a whole-school community program that equips all adults to empower children with strategies to use in situations where conflict or bullying cause disconnection. The skills in this program directly link to the HPE National Curriculum and the Personal and Social General Capabilities that are embedded into all Key Learning Areas.

Approach: We use a C.A.R.E. method:

  • Collecting data: pre and post data is collected in face-to-face student training and is an option for staff workshops to identify prior knowledge, post workshop understanding and ongoing areas needing support. Engagement data is also collected on the online program showing progress and understanding of all participants.
  • Attending training: face-to-face training is available to empower school leaders, staff and parents, and for older students to coach younger students (mediation, P.A.C.E. Yourself as a Leader). The Online Program also contains significant training in Professional Development for teaching staff to complete.
  • Resources: including The BRIDGE BUILDERS® Online Programs (Early Years, Primary), classroom posters, outdoor signs, U-Turn Process folder and program for behavioural support, Empowered for Life published book, and jigsaws.
  • Equipping mentors: admin, staff and older students.

Structure: The BRIDGE BUILDERS® Online Program consists of 10-12 (depending upon grade) 30-minute web-based lessons that are taught in class, with the (preferred) option of students repeating / continuing the lessons at home to reinforce the skills with their family.

Resources: There are 200 optional extra printable activities available for students to complete, differentiated by age and ability.
All online and additional content is rich and engaging with the intention of bringing about positive cultural change, improved conflict resolution and resilience, and a reduction in bullying within the entire school community. The interactive games and quizzes are particularly supportive for neuro-diverse students.

Implementation support

  • Access to professional facilitator, instructor or mentor
  • Implementation training webinars or modules
  • Ongoing helpdesk, email or phone support

Evidence

The program is underpinned by CBT and RET and informed by a Research Thesis using Grounded Theory: How Do Teacher's Perceptions of Conflict Influence Their Response to Conflict in the Classroom?, Pre and Post data results and reporting have been peer reviewed and show positive impact.