Thursday 18 October 2012

Range of activities will put anti-bullying message in the spotlight

A schools' poster competition, a students' survey and a conference on cyber safety will be among the activities being held this year to put anti-bullying messages firmly in the spotlight.
With the theme for this year's National Anti-Bullying Week (19 to 23 November) focusing on the short- and long-term effects of bullying behaviour on the lives of children and young people, plans are already gathering pace across East Sussex.

The County Council's Anti-Bullying Service has joined forces with the county's East Sussex Youth Cabinet, representatives from the Local Safeguarding Children's Board, schools and other youth providers to organise a number of activities and events.

In the run up to Anti-Bullying Week students in primary and secondary schools are being invited to design an anti-bullying poster campaign to raise awareness about e-safety issues and the effects of cyberbullying.

In addition to this, students will again be encouraged to take part in the annual anti-bullying Safer Schools Survey looking at their perceptions and experiences of bullying behaviour, both inside and outside of school.

This year it is estimated 10,000 students will take part in the survey. In previous years the results from the survey has proven invaluable, providing a wealth of information that has helped schools and the county council to target support and resources where they are most needed.

Members of the Youth Cabinet will also be taking an active role this year in helping to raise the profile of National Anti-Bullying Week in their schools, as well as taking centre stage in a local conference "Stay Safe in Cyber Space" during national anti-bullying week, on Thursday 22nd November 2012.

This links with the Youth Cabinet's campaign work on ‘preventing and tackling bullying', voted as the top issue of concern to young people in the Big Vote election in November 2011.
The conference will include themed presentations from internationally renowned speakers and interactive workshops to addressing a range of e-safety and cyberbullying issues.

As part of activities to support schools, the council's Schools Learning and Effectiveness Team and the Anti-Bullying Service have run training for staff members who have responsibility preventing and responding to bullying incidents in their school. The Anti-Bullying Services has also produced a range of anti-bullying resources for schools and other youth settings.

Cllr Nick Bennett, the County Council's Lead Member for Learning and School Effectiveness said: “I am delighted to see so much activity planned for anti-bullying week. Bullying behaviour has no place in our schools or in society generally and, while great progress has been made in recent years, we need to make sure that we are not complacent.


“I'm particularly pleased that the conference involving the Youth Cabinet will look at e-safety and cyber-bullying. So much communication and interaction happens now through computers and social media and it's vital that young people are safe in that environment as well as in all others.”

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