News
On this page we will bring you news about local and national anti-bullying work, issues and research. If you have examples of good practice that you would like to share, or anti-bullying events that you would like to publicise, email us. We do reserve the right not to publish and/or to amend your contributions if necessary.
Government consultation on the recording and monitoring of bullying in schools
The Government are planning to make it a legal requirement for schools to record and monitor bullying incidents in school, including incidents against school staff. They want to know what you think about this. To find out more, download the documents below or go to www.dcsf.gov.uk/consultations
The closing date for this consultation is 4th March 2010.
Anti-bullying Week 2009 and competitions 2009/10
Schools and other settings across the county ran lots of activities during Anti-bullying week (16 - 20 November 2009) to raise awareness of bullying issues. The national theme for this year was cyber bullyinng - 'Stay safe in cyber space' - bullying using phones and the internet.
The Anti-bullying Partnership launched 3 competitions during the week which will run through the winter.
PLEASE NOTE THE CLOSING DATE FOR ENTRIES TO ALL COMPETITIONS IS NOW 12TH MARCH 2010.
Children aged 4 – 11: design a mouse mat to help people stay safe from bullying. The winner will have 100 mouse mats made with their design for their school or club, plus a £20 high street voucher. Three runners up will get £10 high street vouchers.
Young people aged 12 – 19: work in groups of three to create a storyboard for an anti-bullying ‘advert’. The winning design will be made into a real video and 15 groups of three young people will win an activity day with the Ministry of Defence – assault course or safety with explosives – and someone will even press the button to blow up a car! (alternative prizes may be available if required)
THIS COMPETITION IS NOW OPEN TO ALL CHILDREN IN YEAR 7. 11 YEAR OLDS WILL NOT BE ABLE TO GO ON THE ACTIVITY DAYS DUE TO INSURANCE ISSUES, BUT ALTERNATIVE PRIZES WILL BE AVAILABLE.
Children and young people aged 4 – 19: get involved with Touch FM by creating an audio anti-bullying message. The three judged to be the best will be played on the radio. The winner will get to meet Touch FM's Breakfast Show host Kirsty Leahy and visit the Touch FM studios so you can see where and how all the action takes place and receive some goodies.
Free prize draw
During anti-bullying week there was a free prize draw open to anyone who wrote an anti-bullying message. This activity ran in many schools, youth clubs and other community venues. Six winners were then picked, eaching winning 'Love2Shop' high street shopping vouchers.
Winners of the Free Prize Draw are:
£50 - Natasha Phillips from Kineton High School Youth Club
£10 - Niamh Calladine from Studley St. Mary's CE VA Junior School
£10 - Jake Harding from Nicholas Chamberlain School
£10 - Callum from Studley St. Mary's CE VA Junior School
£10 - Pip Standing from Kineton Youth Centre
£10 - Rachel Hughes from Rugby College
New government resource about bullying and disability
The government have produced a new pack about bullying and disability. Called 'Make them go away', it includes a DVD and resource pack with activities that explore issues around bullying for children with special educational needs and disabilities. The activities are aimed at all children and young people in key stages 2 and 3 and include curriculum links. There is also information for parents/carers and professionals.
Hard copies of the pack are being sent to every school in England by the government. We are also going to get some for distribution to other settings. In the meantime, go to the Anti-bullying Alliance's website to get the online version, or contact us for more information.
Every Child Matters Survey 2009
Each year Warwickshire County Council conducts a survey in schools in Warwickshire with questions about lots of things, including bullying.
See the report on questions about bullying in this year's survey
New guidance about online safety
Warwickshire's Family Information Service have produced a new booklet about online safety for families - click on the link below to download your copy
Surfing Safely
New guidance on bullying outside school
In April 2009 the DCSF launched a new suite of guidance on bullying that happens in the community, including
- guidance for LA's and strategic leads
- bullying in youth activities
- bullying in play and leisure provision
- bullying in FE colleges
- bullying in extended services in and around school
- bullying on journeys
- bullying in children's homes
- training resources for professionals
There is also new guidance about protecting school staff from cyber bullying
You can download all of these resources from our professionals' pages
Anti-bullying abseil
Warwickshire's Anti-bullying Partnership organised an abseiling event at Kings House in Bedworth on 28 February to raise awareness of anti-bullying work, launch our new poster and re-launch text2talk. 55 people took part in the abseil - including teachers, police officers and people who work for a variety of organisations as well as young people from across the county. We will bring you more news about what happened, including pictures, soon. We would like to thank every one who helped to organise and run the event, everyone who helped to publicise it and of course all the people who took part.
Bullying and disability research
During the summer of 2008 we did some research into bullying and disability, involvibng over 200 young people and parents/carers. You can read our report here:
We are committed to taking forward the recommendations of the research and will provide updates on this page.
Anti-bullying week 2008
Anti-bullying week is a national event that takes place every autumn. In 2008 it ran from 17th - 21st November and the national theme was 'being different, belonging together'.
Schools, youth and community settings across Warwickshire got involved in our online pledge, poster and t-shirt competitions, family activities, multi-cultural events, school assemblies and more. We will be producing a book about everything that happened but in the meantime, click below for a list of the county-wide competition winners:
Prejudice-driven bullying
Our core theme for 2008/9 has been prejudice-driven bullying. Some of the things we have done include:
- an online pledge against prejudice and discimination
- a poster campaign and information stands at schools across the county
- starting a theme group looking at homophobic bullying
- developing some workshopson bullyign and discrimination to be piloted with Yr 7 pupils next year
Many of the activities for Anti-bullying week 2008 also fited in with this theme.
Cyber bullying
Cyber bullying was a core theme for us in 2007/8. We did several things to help tackle it. For example:
- running an online pledge against cyber bullying with Warwickshire Police
- developing information for children, young people and parents/carers about what cyber bullying is what they can do about it
- developing resources for schools to use with children, young people and families
- running training for professionals
Click on the links below for more information.
Other news
You can download anything listed below
Local:
National: