Starting a Group

Starting An Animal Rights Group At School

Thinking of starting an animal rights group at your school, but don't know where to begin or what to do? Well, you have come to the right place. We have all the info, advice and suggestions that a student needs to helping stop animal cruelty.

Background Information

Besides providing an education, a school is also obliged to teach values to its students. In NSW this is known as "Values Education" in which values are taught in the classroom and through activities and relationships of the school and its community. There are NINE core values that need to be addressed. They are Integrity, Excellence, Fairness, Responsibility, Democracy, Cooperation, Participation, Respect and Care.

As a student you have the right to be as active as possible in your education and school experiences. By forming a group means you are addressing the core values through your group and its activities.

Furthermore, by starting a club means that you will be gaining invaluable experience that can be used in the future, such as demonstrating leadership skills, organisational skills, communication skills etc. These are great to include on your resume if/when you start looking for a job.

Already Have A Group?

Did you know about VOICELESS?? It is a fantastic Australian organisation dedicated in fighting animal cruelty through law and education programs. They even provide funding for school clubs. Check out their website at www.voiceless.org.au

Please contact us and let us know if you have started a group, as we would love to have you on this site.

Below is a guide only on how you can set up and start running your own group.

Chances being you will be the only one who would think of starting a group. Although it is very do-able to start a group flying solo, it makes the experience more enjoyable if you have someone, such as a friend, who shares the same interest as you and willing to help with the group. They can be very helpful when thinking of objectives, aims, ideas etc. However, if you are starting it alone, don't let it stop you as it can be achieved.

Stage One: Do You Have Time?

Organising and running a group can be a fantastic experience if done well. However, one of the most important factors you need to consider is TIME. Consider:

1. Do you have enough time for a group? Remember, your studies are still important.
2. How many hours can you put in per week? Are you thinking of doing stuff daily or tackling everything just once a week?
3. Make sure your time reflects your goals and expectations. That means, is your group going to hold meetings and an event every week/fortnight/month/term? If every week, then more time is needed compared to once a month.
4. Every group needs to have at least an occassional meeting to discuss ideas etc, so when will your meetings be? At lunch, before school or after school? Remember, meetings are important as they give everyone the chance to share ideas, organise an event etc.

Stage Two: Organising With School and Getting Support

1. Enquire whether your school has any policies regarding student groups. If so, discuss the policy with either your year co-ordinator or a staff member you feel comfortable with, followed by the Principal. If your school does not have any policies then discuss if there is a need for a policy, and if so, ask to have one put in place. This may take some time, so ask for a temporary draft to be put in place while you go about organising what is needed in the following stages.
2. Find a teacher who is willing to support you. They don't necessarily need to help run the group, but have a role as an advisor and facilitator between your group and the school. With your year co-ordinator or teacher, organise a room that can be used for your group.
3. Approach some animal welfare organisations and ask for any sort of sponsorship. This will show the school that your group will be involved in the community.

Stage Three: Draft Your Aims and Get The School On Your Side

1. Before the school can approve your group, they need to know what your group aims will be and what you are hoping to achieve. This is a very important stage as the school needs to know that your group will reflect the "Values Education" component, and that your activites can be easily incorporated into any subject and learning areas, as well as community and social activities. Write a draft outlining your aims and what activities you are hoping to do.
   Make sure to include in your draft:
   • Your primary objective (For example: to raise student awareness of animal cruelty and to help others become more compassionate etc)
   • Develop a couple of aims in point form (For example: to provide information and educate others about animal cruelty; to make students more compassionate about animals; develop ways students can be more aware of their choices; to explore various animal rights issues and how they're viewed in society and cultures; implement cruelty free practices within school- ie canteen to use free range eggs instead of caged, finding alternatives to dissection animals; etc)
   • Include strategies on how you will achieve your aims (For example: by having information stalls once every fortnight; designing and distributing posters and information leaflets around school; having an "awareness day" for a particular cruelty issue and having the students sign petitions, write letters etc; inviting guest speakers from various animal rights and welfare groups; hosting a video session during lunch time; having a fundraising drive for a local animal charity, etc) Check out our Actions section for more examples and helpful advice on how to go about each of those activities.
   • Include a statement outlining how often you will be meeting, how much time you are planning to use, as well as your willingness to adapt your cause to any assignments and projects.
2. Very Important: Emphasise how your group will help benefit the school and its students.

Stage Four: Recruit Members By Promoting Your Group

1. Once you have submitted your draft and either have approval, or on your way to approval, start asking if other students would be interested. Tell them your aims and what you're hoping to do. You don't need alot of students in your group to start with, as a small number can be more effective in having things run smoothly at the beginning. You should aim between 3 and 5, including yourself.
2. To help you with recruiting: with your school's permission, put up some posters about wanting to start a group, and how interested students can contact you. Have a time and venue planned for your first meeting. To help get interest, perhaps mention there will be some snacks (no-one can refuse free food!)
3. Think outside your year! What this means is just don't look for others in your year group, but ask students from other years as well. Remember, it's a school group, and so you want ALL the students involved in some way, even the younger ones ! You never know, the time will come that you will leave school, and so you don't want your group to cease when you leave. Having students in lower years from you will help the group to continue.

Stage Five: Have Your First Meeting - Establishing Roles

1. Organise a time in which your fledgling group will meet and discuss all the managerial duties, such as coming up with your group name, agreeing on meeting schedules, discussing the draft and making any adjustments etc. Include your year co-ordinator or the teacher in your first meeting as they will help in running it smoothly. Discuss and agree on your first action. Make sure to have 'minutes' - a record of what was discussed, who attended, etc.
2. Discuss and allocate the role and responsibilty for each person, for example: president, secretary,action manager, group representative, website manager, research officer etc.
   IMPORTANT: Make sure that the interested members are committed, especially during those times when you have a heavy study load and won't have time. To have a solid, committed group means the group will survive during and after quiet times.
3. Visit the Principal with your group members and hand in your final draft. If you find that the Principal objects to your group, or is not willing to let you start a group for whatever reason, go here for some suggestions. However, the more students interested, the better chance the Principal will allow it.

Stage Six: Your First Actions

1. Once your group has officially been approved, it is now time to start on your group activities. With your teacher's permission put up some posters in your room, or better still, spend your first meeting designing and making posters.
2. Now for your first action! Make sure the action is something small and achievable. You don't want to organise an "Awareness Day" immediately, but an activity that can be easily organised and managed. The best suggestion would be a simple lunchtime info session- not only are you educating others, but use it as a means of gaining more members:
   * This involves a table and chairs and will only take 30 minutes. This is your first chance to tell others about your group, as well as hand out some flyers about various issues. Have some petitions available for signing. To get your hands on flyers, just contact some animal rights and welfare organisations and they will be more than happy to send you information to pass on. Want info in a hurry? Contact us and we'll send you a bundle of flyers and posters to hand out. For a list of other groups, go here

Now you have set up your group and survived your first action, you are on your way to helping stop animal cruelty. However, it may be tempting to start tougher actions, but ease up. Think big-start small. If you need help at any time, just contact us and we'll give you advice and help you through the tough patches.

Tips:

1. Keep your Principal 'in touch' with what your group is up to. This will help establish a good relationship and hopefully, they will let you go onto bigger things.
2. Aim for at least one action/event every two weeks or once a month. You don't want your members and students losing interest.
3. During times in which you're not at school (ie school holidays, weekends), have something that students can still go to, such as a MySpace page. Perhaps have an email list for members and send out invites to chat sessions (ie msn)
4. Always have a 'presence'. This means put up posters and information flyers during those times your group is not doing anything. Always have a 'sign-up' sheet available.

MOST IMPORTANT » NEVER GET DISCOURAGED! Starting and running a group can be a fun and rewarding thing, but it also can have some difficulties, such as lack of student interest at certain times, an event is not a success, you don't have enough time etc. Even BIG, SUCCESSFUL organisations run into 'hiccups'. Just try to focus on why you started the group in the first place and adapt, if need be.

REMEMBER! Although the issue of animal cruelty is quite sad, try to make your group and activities fun and engaging. Whenever having meetings try to be creative and relaxed. You want your members to feel good about what they're doing!