Bullying victims to be remembered in school memorials today

Nearly 30,000 students and staff with the Toronto District School Board will pause for a minute of silence this morning as part of remembrance ceremonies in several countries for bullying victims who lost their lives.

Set to start at 11 a.m. ET, the Toronto ceremony will include a moment of silence to honour B.C. teen Amanda Todd and other victims of bullying.

Fifteen cities around the world are expected to join in, including Truro, N.S., Halifax, Calgary, Edmonton and Surrey, B.C.

Todd, 15, committed suicide in her family home in Coquitlam earlier this month, after posting a video on YouTube saying how she sunk into depression while enduring years of online bullying, blackmail and physical assaults at school.

While the victims of bullying often suffer in silence, one Toronto school has had success with tackling a bullying problem and getting kids to speak out.

East Alternative School's Grade 7 and Grade 8 classes attend regular anti-bullying workshops.

Students sit in random assigned spots in the cafeteria in order to break up cliques.

And students can report bullying anonymously, without fear of retribution.

"It's never just between one person and another," said Lynn Heath, the school's head teacher. "A bunch of people are involved, so witnesses know they can come to us and something will be done."

According to the Canadian Institute for Health Research one in three adolescent students have reported being bullied.