“Make a noise about bullying”
Anti-bullying Week is organised by the Anti-Bullying Alliance (ABA), a coalition of organisations and individuals that work together to tackle bullying. It takes place every year in the UK in the third week of November, with the aim of raising awareness about bullying among children and young people.
The theme of this year’s Anti-bullying Week is to “Make a noise about bullying”, too often we find that many people object and are very disgusted by bullying but few do anything to stop it from happening. Many will watch a person getting bullied and do absolutely nothing. See the example below:
Bullying is like a virus that just never ends, never dies and never passes away. Research from the Department of Education found that 40% of young people were bullied in the last 12 months, and 6% of all young people had experienced bullying daily, 1 in 4 young people with SEN (special educational needs) experienced violence and students that are bullied are 2 to 9 times more likely to consider suicide than non-victims of bullying.
Bullying is not something that we can stay silent about!
Signs and Indicators of Bullying Include:
- Reluctant to go to school
- Being distressed or anxious
- Losing confidence and becoming withdrawn
- Having problems eating and or sleeping
- Having unexplained injuries
- Changes in appearance
- Changes in performance and/or behaviour at school
- Someone being isolated in work/school settings
- A person’s advancement and growth in the workplace is consistently blocked
- A person is constantly being criticised
How to make a noise about bullying
If you have any concerns about bullying you can contact:
- Ask if the person being bullied is okay or if they need help: If you can see that someone is in serious harm, seek help from a trusted adult or call the police on 999
- NSPCC Helpline on 08088005000 or you can email help@nspcc.org.uk
- Your local child protection services. Their contact details can be found on the website of the local authority the child lives in.
- Strive to take the person being bullied away from the situation
- Do not join in or watch the bullying take place
Please share your concerns with the safeguarding team If you’re worried they are at risk of serious harm but they are not in immediate danger.
How to make a noise about bullying on social media, etc.:
- You can use the hashtags #MakeANoise and #AntiBullyingWeek
- Thinkuknow – a platform that helps to protect children and young people from the threat of online child sexual abuse and exploitation.
- Block’em – blocks unwanted calls and texts from specific numbers (for Android users)
- Childline and the Internet Watch Foundation’s discreet Report Remove tool – can be used to take down sexual images and videos of individuals under 18 that were shared online.
- Support the Anti-Bullying Alliance posts, take a look at their social media toolkit and post on your own socials, here
- Register to Anti-bullying Alliance planned events
- Keep up with anti-bullying alliance members’ activities
Check the Following Video to Learn About the Seven Psychological Effects of Bullying:
Please talk to any member of the Safeguarding Team if you have any questions or concerns relating to any of the information above.
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