Students at St Edward’s school in Poole have been raising awareness as part of the national Anti-Bullying Week campaign.
The campaign is held in schools across the UK every November. This year, the theme was ‘Change Starts With Us’.
To start the week, a group of student leaders received training to become anti-bullying ambassadors as part of the Diana Award Anti-Bullying project. They used this training to lead activities, spread awareness and introduce initiatives to remind other pupils of the week’s theme.
Among other tasks, the ambassadors presented assemblies throughout the week where they spoke to their peers about what bullying is and how to make it stop. Following this, they visited tutor groups across the whole school to provide further advice and support.
They also decided to make themselves available every lunchtime for the rest of the school year to support pupils who may need help or want to report any issues.
Chris Farrow, Assistant Headteacher of St Edward’s, said: “It has been really encouraging to see our students take responsibility and action this Anti-Bullying Week. Our anti-bullying ambassadors have set an excellent example for our whole school and helped their fellows understand what bullying is and how we can all help to ensure it stops.”
Anti-Bullying Week at St Edward’s ended with a Feel-Good Friday Challenge in which all students were challenged to do five random acts of kindness.
One of St Edward’s Anti-Bullying Ambassadors, said: “We came up with the Feel-Good Friday idea as a way for all students in the school to help create a safer, happier and more inclusive community.
“We wanted to remind everyone of the Anti-Bullying Week theme and help them remember that ‘change starts with us.”