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Register now to take the bullying awareness online training from TrainingSchoolz

As the latest academic year began, figures released by The Diana Award revealed that 57% of young people have been bullied at some point in their school lives. And 35% of those bullied had missed school as a result. In addition, the figures also revealed that 36% of parents are worried that their child has behaved in a bullying manner.

As we know, the 'Keeping Children Safe in Education' guidance from the DfE asserts that "safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is everyone's responsibility", and of course, bullying, or more specifically bullying prevention is a significant element of this.

This is why we are delighted to offer you access to free bullying awareness training from our sister site, TrainingSchoolz.

This training is designed to support schools in their understanding of policies and procedures around the different ways in which children and young people can be bullied. It covers good practice on how schools should address the issues of bullying.

The training is available free of charge for staff to complete from now until 15th November - to coincide with anti-bullying week which takes place from 11th - 15th November.

Sign-up now to complete the training

Tootoot CEO and founder Michael Brennan has written to invite you to Pupil Voice Week 2019, running from the 23rd - 27th September!

Last year over 270,000 pupils from around the world celebrated the week, and this year will be the biggest yet, with more partners and free resources than ever before.

Pupil Voice Week is an initiative started by tootoot, we are a pupil voice and safeguarding app used by over 600 schools across the UK. The week is now in its fourth year, and with the help of our partners Internet Matters, eAware, Safeguarding Essentials, TrainingSchoolz, Kidscape, Ditch The Label and Madlug we have created a range of lesson activities, lesson plans and assemblies and staff training for your school to enjoy.

Our aim is to educate pupils about the benefits of using their voice, encouraging a long-term change of culture beyond the dates of the week. We hope that by providing schools with the knowledge and resources required to help you promote the importance of the pupil voice, more of your children and young people will speak-up about the issues that are concerning them, with a view to creating a positive change in the future.

With the theme ‘Our Voice’ Pupil Voice Week this year focuses on encouraging pupils to unite their voices and speak out about issues that are affecting their community.

We want every child to believe that their voice contributes towards a happier and safer world, and that by speaking up they are making a real difference. Which is why the Pupil Voice Week provides the tools to help teach your pupils about what a positive voice is, how they can use their voices and ways they can work together to create a happier world.

Your free resource pack also covers topics such as anti-bullying and cyberbullying to highlight to children and young people the impact their voices can have when they don’t use them positively.

Click here to register your school for free.

Nominate your anti-bullying member of school staff today!

Whether it is verbal, physical, online or in-person, bullying has a significant impact on a child’s life well into adulthood.

The Anti-Bullying Alliance is urging action for this year’s Anti-Bullying Week and saying that by making small, simple changes, we can break this cycle and create a safe environment for everyone.

Change Starts With Us

The Alliance has announced the theme of Anti-Bullying Week 2019 as ‘Change Starts With Us’, underlining how everyday acts like listening to young people, having a conversation, thinking about the impact of our words or stopping before hitting ‘like’ on a hurtful social media post, can help to reduce bullying.

The campaign aims to emphasise that we all have a part to play: Change Starts With Us.

Following a consultation with over 1,000 children and 200 teachers, schools staff and members of the Anti-Bullying Alliance, it emerged that a top priority was giving pupils, staff, parents and other key players such as government and industry the tools to prevent and respond to bullying both online and offline.

This year, the Anti-Bullying Alliance is expecting widespread support for Anti-Bullying Week, which was celebrated in 80% of schools in 2018. ABA will be working with young people to develop parent tools, films, a social media campaign and a set of free cross-curricular teaching resources to support both primary and secondary schools to embrace the theme.

Odd Socks Day will be held once again to mark the first day of Anti-Bullying Week. CBeebies star and Anti-Bullying Alliance patron Andy Day and his band Andy and the Odd Socks are supporting Anti-Bullying Week 2019 and are encouraging students to wear odd socks to school to celebrate what makes us all unique.

Anti-Bullying Week Award for School Staff

There will also be Anti-Bullying Week School Staff Awards for those inspiring members of the school workforce who go the extra mile to support pupils and prevent bullying. Pupils can nominate members of school staff for the award.

Click here to find out more and to download the entry form

Martha Evans, Director of the Anti-Bullying Alliance, said:
“Children and young people tell us time and time again how being bullied can leave you feeling powerless. However, it does not have to be this way. Our consultation with pupils, teachers and many others, showed that we can all make changes to be part of the solution. Whether it is speaking to someone we trust when bullying happens to us, or calling it out if we suspect it’s happening to someone else, we can all work together for a solution. Remember, change starts here, change starts now, change starts with us.”

Anti-Bullying Week runs from 11 to 15 November 2019 – get involved at www.anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk @ABAonline #AntiBullyingWeek #ChangeStartsWithUs #OddSocks.

Small actions make a big difference in fight against bullying