Warwickshire News Mine

The Department for Children Schools and Families and national body, the Anti-bullying Alliance have recently published a series of six ‘Safe from Bullying’ guides. The documents will help people working with children and young people to wipe out bullying in a range of community settings, including extended services, youth activities and on public transport.

The work of county council’s Anti-bullying Partnership has influenced some of the material in the guides.  In 2008 the partnership created guidance for schools concentrating on how they can address bullying which takes place out of school. The document impressed the Anti-Bullying Alliance who it is understood used it as a reference for some of the Safe from Bullying content.

Each new government guide is targeted toward a different type of out of school setting and can be used to support training sessions. In addition to offering an explanation of bullying and offering advice about recognising the signs, the booklets provide information to practitioners about prevention and how to respond.  Contact details for further help are also listed if extra support is needed.

Keen to raise further awareness of how bullying in the wider community impacts on the well-being of children, Warwickshire’s Anti-bullying Co-ordinator Rachel Evans and her team have disseminated the guidance to colleagues and agencies who work with young people.

Rachel said: “We have always worked with the wider community to tackle bullying in Warwickshire.  Several voluntary sector agencies are involved with all our planning and we link closely with youth and family support services across the county.

“Our new quality standard has been designed for use in out of school settings and we will use this along with the new guidance documents to support the work of the partnership and equip workers with the tools to recognise and effectively tackle bullying.”

One of the guides focuses on Extended Services and aims support at people who work in before and after school provision, holiday playschemes and activities delivered in or around schools to help them keep children safe.

Carol Bunyard Extended Service Strategy Officer is pleased to receive this extra resource, she commented: “As Extended Services continues to develop and broaden additional activities being offered, this valuable resource will support staff and volunteers working with children and young people across Warwickshire within out of school activities. “

Copies of the guidance are available on the Warwickshire County Council website http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/bullying.

For information and support about bullying please visit this website or contact the Family Information Service on 0845 090 8044.

Link to WCC