Council and democracy

Striking a blow against bullying

The 'Being Different, Belonging Together' slogan is key to this campaign, which will encourage children to choose not to bully and to support each other to resist bullies and to tell an appropriate adult who will act and stop it.

Cabinet member for safety and cohesion, Steve O'Connell, said: "Differences - whether real or perceived - are often at the heart of bullying. This year's Anti-bullying Week sets out to raise awareness and challenge this unacceptable behaviour."

The schools will be engaged in various activities, exploring and celebrating the diversity and differences within their community.

At Beulah Junior School the children will be writing poetry and letters based on bullying. They will also use drama to role-play the bully/victim in their literacy lessons and design anti-bullying posters in their art classes for a competition to win some anti-bullying themed fiction. In music the choir is learning an anti-bullying song to perform in an assembly.

Theatre company Tiny Giants will perform the play, B-U-1-1-Y, for the children. The pupils will also prepare podcasts and photographs will be taken for the school website. The whole school will be wearing blue to highlight Blue Friday, which marks the end of the campaign week.

Smitham Primary pupils will also dress in blue for Blue Friday and plan to create a large art work. The younger children will produce handprints to represent stamping out bullying; the older children will write an anti-bullying pledge.
 
Croydon pupils have also benefitted from peer mentoring, which involves young people being given the opportunity to help each other deal with emotional and relationship issues and is recognised as a very effective way of supporting those who have been bullied.

Haling Manor High has been working with national and local agencies to train additional peer mentors and cybermentors.

And Edenham High's peer mentoring programme is well established. Its mentors will be working with Year 7 pupils to get their views on how the school's Anti-bullying Policy can be made even more effective.

Harris City Academy Crystal Palace will be focusing on cyber bullying and there will be a special assembly based on this theme. All personal, social and health education lessons will examine the many different aspects of bullying, which will be presented to the class.

The Academy also recognises the importance of involving the young people in developing an anti-bullying strategy, so students will also be completing a bullying survey; the results will inform anti-bullying practice and strategies within the school.

Councillor O'Connell continued: "The schools' commitment to challenge bullying is matched by the local authority's determination to combat it in all its settings.

"As a direct result of the establishment of Croydon's Anti-bullying Strategy, a dedicated Anti-bullying co-ordinator is to be appointed. The post holder, who will start in the New Year, will ensure that a whole authority approach, engaging partners across the council and voluntary sector, is undertaken to tackle bullying."

Within the next 12 months it is planned that all schools will have had training on:

the development and implementation of an anti-bullying policy
the use of data-collection systems for reporting and recording bullying incident
strategies to combat bullying.