Anti-bullying advocate Jim Mayer, known for decades as the famous bass player for Jimmy Buffett's Coral Reefer Band, will visit Wakefield School for a second time this spring.

Mayer will speak to and perform for preschoolers through second graders on April 30 at 10 a.m. in the Lower School Library.

Mayer is an award winning children's musician and performer who is leading the movement to change the impact of child bullying through his IM4U Campaign. The IM4U program is a unique music-based social-emotional learning system for the early childhood years. This program lays a foundation in early years that prepares children to deal with the challenges of the global community.

Mayer's message through the seven principles of the IM4U Learning Program works hand-in-hand with two initiatives that have been introduced to Wakefield's Lower School this academic year. One is the Responsive Classroom Approach, of which a primary premise is that students who feel emotionally safe and cared for, and have the social skills to interact and learn within a classroom community, are more likely to be academically successful.

Moreover, as an extension of the Responsive Classroom approach and our Character Counts program, our Lower School Counselor Jennifer Sipes led a bullying-behavior prevention pilot program in the fifth grade.

All these programs concentrate on creating a classroom environment where differences are recognized, accepted and celebrated, and students' unique strengths, challenges and interests are celebrated. At the same time, each program helps children recognize bullying behavior and what to do when they encounter it. Thus, the emphasis is on prevention.