No one likes the thought of bullying occuring, yet it is a challenge that every school has to face. Whether bullying focuses on a characteristic such as race, sexuality, disability, nationality, faith or if there is no particular characteristic at all, we should all find it unacceptable. Of course, all good schools and educators challenge bullying wherever and whenever they see it - Anti-Bullying Week however gives us a chance to discuss bullying and proactively tackle it using the most effective weapons in our armoury: education and unity!
This year the theme is One Kind Word. Kindness is more important today than it has ever been. The isolation of the last year has underlined how little acts of consideration can break down barriers and brighten the lives of the people around us. This is one of the reasons, that ‘One Kind Word’ has been chosen as the theme of Anti-Bullying Week taking place from 15th to 19th November 2021.
The week will kick off with Odd Socks Day ; an event that has been run for the last few years. There’s a serious message behind the fun: let’s pull on odd socks to show we’re ALL unique and different, and let’s be kind to each other and respect each other’s individuality.
The Anti-Bullying Alliance who coordinated Anti-Bullying Week in England and Wales have created a whole range of resources to support schools make the most of the week. These include:
Bullying UK has a range of videos which can be used in lessons and assemblies or shared with your learners and their families with address a range of issues around bullying. These are a great way of starting conversations on how to spot and tackle bullying. They can provide invaluable advice and support and have been made by young people across the country.
'Spot It and Stop It' is an interactive video - throughout this video you will be asked to make a decision from the point of view of the bully, the victim or the friends. These choices will alter the story as you go. Here is the first scene:
The BBC has previously produced some excellent resources to support Anti-Bullying Week:
BBC Teach Anti-Bullying Resources
Bullying: The Other Side of The Story
LGfL’s Everyone Matters raises awareness of the problems of homophobic bullying in schools. Developed in partnership with the Metropolitan Police and Wandsworth and Waltham Forest local authorities, these resources feature role play scenarios to challenge both students and teachers to reflect on their own attitudes to this form of bullying.
The organisation Special Needs Jungle have an eye opening article written by a young girl with autism who recounts her experience of bullying and offers some pointers which might be helpful for other neurodiverse young people. It’s NOT your fault: An autistic teen’s comprehensive guide to surviving being bullied - This post is based on Siena's book, The Spectrum Girl's Survival Guide: How to grow up Autistic and Awesome.
In relation to neurodiversity and autism in particular the National Autistic Society (NAS) provides a page of advice and links to further support for parents and carers of young people with autism who are being bullied.
Adobe Spark and Adobe Creative Cloud provide wonderful tools which can be used to provide wonderfully creative learning experiences. LGfL schools are entitled to a number of Adobe Licences as part of their subscription. Here are some examples of how Adobe tools can be used to engage your learners with Anti-Bullying themes:
If you are an LGfL school, you can access our premium resources and design posters in Just2easy's JiT or J2e5 or Busy Paint and Publisher too.
The DigiSafe team at LGfL have also posted a blog; highlighting the creation of two new posters at bullying.lgfl.net to get those important discussions started and create a culture where bullying is unacceptable, since picking up on things which may seem like nothing could stop them escalating into something far more serious!
How are you making the most of this awareness week to energise and unify your school community to tackle the challenge of bullying? Whether it’s assemblies or classwork, art projects or roleplays, writing or any other medium, share it with us on Twitter or Facebook and let us share your great work with the whole LGfL community!