Bullying at school: breaking the silence Thursday

Photo: Elizabet21
Photo: Elizabet21

The Government of Monaco has set aside Thursday November 3 as “No Bullying Day” and is asking all public and private schools in the Principality to show their support in the fight against this often invisible violence.
The day implemented by the Department of Education, Youth and Sport aims to give students a chance to speak freely on this phenomenon that often brings serious consequences with it. Students will be encouraged to think about bullying and will be taught how to avoid or stop being bullied.
In primary schools, CM2 students will participate in a meeting of awareness and prevention organised in class by their teacher, where they’ll be asked to express the theme artistically, which will allow students to have a more concrete approach towards bulling and the need to know how to cope appropriately, and school psychologists will be on hand in many of the institutions.
At the secondary level, educational activities fully adapted to each grade level will be offered to all students, inviting them to take an active part in art or writing workshops. They will also be encouraged to communicate about this subject in their establishment but outside the classroom with a poster campaign: slide projections, posters, computer screensaver messages , etc. These different activities will help raise awareness among high school students about this phenomenon.
On Thursday, an anonymous questionnaire will be given to 4me and 3me students, to get more detailed knowledge about bullying and to assess its impact. A similar survey in 2015 found that only 8 of the 400 students of 4me class said they had been subject to bullying, a level (2%) significantly lower than the French average.
This government’s plan is divided into three major areas. First, Prevention and Detection through a partnership with the Department of Education and Youth Sports. The association “Action Innocence” is instrumental in organising one-hour sessions with each class from CE2 to 3eme on the subject of bullying prevention and cyber-bullying. At Collège Charles III, a peer mediation process has been set up to defuse emerging conflicts between students.
Second, specific training on bullying is offered to adults dealing with students in schools in order to anticipate and detect possible cases.
And third, protocol on how to treat bullying has been developed and distributed to management and administrative teams. For exceptionally serious cases, the relevant service of Department of National Education, Youth and Sports is directly linked to a police referent of Public Safety and if the situation warrants, a report is made to the Attorney General.

Tourism and Convention Bureau tour southern Italy

L-R: Mrs Gloria Zvezia, DTC Representative Office in Milan; Mr Massimo Michelis, Representative of Monte-Carlo Casino; Mariano Bruno, Honorary Consul of Monaco in Naples; Laurence Aquilina, Marketing DTC; SEM Robert Fillon, Monaco Ambassador in Italy; Guy Antognelli, Deputy Director of Tourism and Congress. Photo: © Marco Baldassare
L-R: Mrs Gloria Zvezia, DTC Representative Office in Milan; Mr Massimo Michelis, Representative of Monte-Carlo Casino; Mariano Bruno, Honorary Consul of Monaco in Naples; Laurence Aquilina, Marketing DTC; SEM Robert Fillon, Monaco Ambassador in Italy; Guy Antognelli, Deputy Director of Tourism and Congress. Photo: © Marco Baldassare

The Representative Office in Italy of the Monaco Government Tourist and Convention Bureau (DTC) has just returned to Milan after a promotional week in the cities of Naples and Palermo.
During the tour, a delegation made up of Mr Guy Antognelli, Deputy Director of Tourism and Congress, Mrs Laurence Aquilina, Marketing Manager in charge of Western European and US markets, and partners of the Casino Monte Carlo partners with diplomatic ties in Italy, looked specifically at two audiences, tourism professionals and VIP clients.
On October 17 and 18, the Monegasque delegation met with major travel agencies in Palermo. In addition to meeting with tourism professionals, travel agents and consultants, on October 18, a hundred guests were invited to a party at the Grand Hotel Piazza Borsa for an evening billed as “Monte Carlo Night Sicily”, organized jointly by Mr Mariano Bruno, Honorary Consul of Monaco in Palermo and the DTC, it was attended by SEM Robert Fillon, Ambassador of Monaco in Italy. Massimo Michelis, a representative of the Monte Carlo Casino, was also on hand to make? some promotional campaigns.
The following two days, the same schedule was extended to Naples. The Monte-Carlo Flower Party, organised by the DTC and the Honorary Consulate of Monaco in Naples, took place on October 20 at the Union Club of Naples, again in the presence of SEM Robert Fillon. Some 500 guests were handpicked to celebrate Monaco, further confirming the links with one of the most popular destinations for the wealthy clientele of southern Italy.

An official Monaco Welcome

monacoapschoolBased on a proposal of the Strategic Council for Attractiveness (CSA), the government decided to create an app for Smartphone and tablets to promote the Principality.
Modern, multifunctional and user friendly, the application is intended for everyone but especially future or new residents, investors and journalists.
Its content covers all the mainstays of Monegasque life, showing the Principality as a preferred destination for both quality of life and business.
As a practical guide reaching an international audience – it’s available in English, French and Italian – subjects include the economy, environment, art and culture, as well as practical information like health, the system school, sports and community living.
The “Monaco Welcome” app is free at GooglePlay and the App Store.

Airlines "hacks" away at customer service glitches

Photo: Patrick Cardinal
Photo: Patrick Cardinal

Air France is launching a “hackathon” over two days in November. Contrary to its name, it’s not a convention for those with an irritated cough but a chance to win a free return flight with the national carrier to anyone who can find a solution to improve customer service.
The contest is open to 110 participants in the fields of development, design, and logistics who will meet from November 25 to 27 at the Zalthabar conference centre in Levallois-Perret, outside Paris.
Like a start-up weekend, teams of 2 to 5 will work for 48 hours non-stop using virtual passengers to try to deal with various scenarios faced on flights, like disruptions, cancellations or delays. At the end of two days, the jury will select the winners. First prize will be a return ticket from Paris to Bangkok, Hong Kong, Miami, Moscow, New York, Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo or San Francisco.
The second place team will be offered a return ticket from Paris to Algiers, Athens, Berlin, Istanbul, Lisbon, London, Rome, Stockholm, Warsaw or Venice.
And third prize a prepaid wireless 4G case.
Air France’s hackathon is thinking outside the box as the airline is “always focusing more on the customer”, looking for ways to improve the travel experience.
Markets are awaiting the Air France-KLM’s quarterly report on Thursday, November, 3, although the company has declined 36.64% since March 31, 2016.