We appointed an Anti-Bullying Strategy Manager as a proactive measure in 2002. Since then our strategy has been working to reduce bullying in Leicestershire schools. We are one of the founder members of the Anti-Bullying Alliance (ABA) and were largely responsible for the development of a national anti-bullying week.
We have established a national reputation and many local authorities have contacted us for help in developing their own strategy. We have developed a termly newsletter on bullying for our schools, a website: www.beyondbullying.com which provides information and support for professionals, parents and young people and we have led the way nationally in piloting new initiatives.
Some of these include:
R Time – a relationship programme which is now in over 170 Leicestershire schools, CRISP – the conflict resolution in schools programme, Peer Massage, I Decide – a program for aggressive students, the Bullying in the Community guidance booklet and the development of pupil led school council’s and peer mentors. We recently released STANCE – a new pack on tackling homophobic bullying in schools.
We have run a full programme of events for every Anti-Bullying Week since it began, including the Big Dave Roadshow, drama presentations at Leicester Haymarket Theatre and conferences this year on tackling cyber bullying. We have also worked in partnership with ABA, Childline, NSPCC, LLGBT and Mencap. In the 2006 the audit commission national survey of council support for combatting bullying, Leicestershire was placed in category 1 – the highest category possible.
Evidence suggests that levels of reported bullying fell in Leicestershire schools between 2003-2006. We are doing all we can to ensure this fall continues.
School Councils
We have been working closely with School Councils in both Primary and Secondary schools in the hope that by consulting with a wide range of students about anti-bullying work, we can focus on and prioritise the issues that are most important to young people.
We try to personally visit as many School Councils as possible in oder to gather views and opinions about the focus of our work.
If you would like a member of the team to come and meet your School Council then please contact us.