Warwickshire News Mine

The partnership will be promoting support services, launching competitions and providing resource packs to schools to support national Anti-bullying Week which runs from 16-20 November.

This year’s theme is cyber bullying and activities during the week focus on preventing and tackling harm caused by bullying online and via mobile phones.

Research carried out by the county partnership this year tells us that almost one in four young people have experienced cyber bullying, which is the intentional use of information and communication technology to cause distress or harm. 

During the week two competitions will be launched, one for primary pupils to design a ‘stay safe’ mouse mat and another for older pupils to create a storyboard for an anti-bullying advert using video or audio.  These projects aim to get children and young people thinking about the theme and finding creative ways to get messages across to their peers.

The competitions will run until February 2010 and the winners will be announced during the spring term. Prizes for competition winners include production of the winning mouse mat design and winning advert as well as Ministry of Defence assault course and bomb disposal activities.

Many schools are running their own activities throughout the week with children and young people around the county creating displays, playing games, taking part in quizzes and more to highlight the issue and come up with inventive ways to tackle it.

For parents and carers, the county council’s interactive learning portal http://www.we-learn.com features information and advice about e-safety issues and a Family Information Service booklet is available to download at http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/bullying. Parents are also being reminded to sign-up for Cyber-Sentinel – a free software package to enable them to monitor and restrict their children’s access to inappropriate material online.

Professionals working with young people and members of the wider community can also get involved. Information and resources will be available at community centres and libraries during the week and people will be asked to write their own anti-bullying messages for displays. All entries will go into a prize draw to win high street shopping vouchers.

The cyber-bullying research report is also going to be published during the week which will help raise the profile of the partnership’s work to tackle bullying.  Over 2000 children and young people from across the county took part in the research, which took place during the summer.

Warwickshire County Councillor Izzi Seccombe, Portfolio Holder for Children, Young People and Families said: “The partnership works extremely hard to stamp out bullying throughout the year but this week is a chance for everyone to get on board and think about what they can do to make their friends and families safer.

“I’m pleased to see cyber-bullying as the focus for this year. The theme was highlighted earlier this year with the touring play Chatroom performed by pupils at Trinity High School and is also supported by other county projects such as Cyber Sentinel so we’re keeping the spotlight firmly on this often hidden form of abuse with victims vulnerable to attack at any time.”

Warwickshire County Council’s Anti-bullying Co-ordinator Rachel Evans said: “We have been working with schools to develop resources to support Anti-bullying Week in Warwickshire for a number of years now. 

“Over this time schools have become more involved, school representation in the partnership has grown as a result and we have developed a close information sharing network between schools and partners. This enables us to be more effective in our approach to tackle bullying in the county.”

Warwickshire’s anti-bullying partnership is made up of Warwickshire County Council, schools, Warwickshire Police and a range of other agencies including Connexions, Relate and Victim Support who work together to influence positive behaviours and stamp out bullying.

For more information about the Anti-bullying Partnership and how to get involved with any of the projects log onto http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/bullying

Link to WCC