Children work out how to stop bullying in Ealing schools
Last week, at least 10 primary and secondary schools across the borough shared their views on bullying and how it should be tackled.
To coincide with Anti-Bullying Week (20-24 November), Ealing Council surveyed a sample of pupils to gain a detailed picture of young people’s attitudes towards bullying and how effectively they feel this destructive behaviour is addressed in Ealing. The results of the survey will influence a borough-wide anti-bullying strategy that is being drafted by the council to provide schools with stronger reporting tools and clearer guidance on how to deal with bullying behaviour.
Councillor Ian Gibb, deputy leader and cabinet member for children’s services, said: “It is important that we learn the extent of bullying in our schools and identify the most common forms so that we can take effective action against it.Comments from pupils will give us a clear picture of how they feel about bullying and whether they feel the right action is being taken when they have the courage to report it. Bullying can have a devastating impact on children’s education and social development and we need to take coordinated action to stamp it out. No child in Ealing should fear coming to school."
The project follows the borough’s successful work around racist bullying, which received national recognition when it was used by the Department for Education and Skills to inform the latest advice to teachers and educators. In addition, the council was recently shortlisted for the Anti-Bullying Award within the Children and Young People’s Services Awards 2006 for its work with young people to produce a guidance booklet on racist bullying. The awards will be announced next week.
Meanwhile, the council’s schools service is preparing to pilot a new web-based reporting system that will allow schools to record bullying incidents more efficiently and make information available to the council. The system will be trialled in 20 schools and, if successful, will be rolled out to all borough schools late next year.
“A robust reporting system is an important part of tackling bullying effectively. If we can encourage more pupils and schools to report incidents of bullying, then we can be sure that the problem is not being ignored,” Cllr Gibb said.
Among other events linked to Anti-Bullying Week, around 30 Ealing young people took part in a series of five workshops run by bullying prevention charity beatbullying. To be staged at Ealing Town Hall this week, the workshops will feature interactive activities including poster and leaflet design, drama, website design and peer mentoring, culminating in a presentation evening. The lessons learned and information gathered will be distributed to schools across the borough. At Lady Margaret Primary School, pupils took part in an anti-bullying workshop and watched themed theatre performances, while other schools highlighted the issue during lessons and other activities, such as designing and painting t-shirts.
November 30, 2006