Pupils are taking action in Northamptonshire’s efforts to address the scourge of verbal bullying
Weston Favell Academy, Weston Favell School Booth Lane South Northampton Feature on bullying and the council's anti-bullying stratedy. L-R Samira Ali, Jo Wood and Devante Blackwell.
STICKS and stones may break your bones but words will never hurt me.
It is an idiom that has been thrust upon children for generations, in response to name calling and taunts.
But it is a mantra many would question.
Two of these are 15-year-old Weston Favell Academy pupils Samira Ali and Devante Blackwell, who have recently organised a conference on verbal bullying as part of their role on the shadow board for Northamptonshire anti-bullying strategy.
The strategy was launched in 2009 with the aim of eradicating or reducing all forms of bullying, helping schools and other services to identify, monitor and respond to bullying and hate-related incidents.
One of the key things about the way the county council deals with bullying is the way it involves young people in fighting it.
Students are sent on workshops and then trained on how to influence adults back at their schools to develop ideas for anti-bullying projects.
“Part of what we do is to organise a conference every year that councillors, chief executives, and headteachers come to and for this year’s anti-bullying conference we prioritised verbal bullying,” says Samira.
“We asked people what they thought of as bullying before we decided and a lot said verbal abuse was the biggest problem so we came up with the slogan ‘It’s ok to be different.’
“I think in some ways things have changed a lot in the way people can bully,” says Devante, who thinks it is important that young people take a role in helping adults to deal with bullying.
“Technology has made it easier to bully people in a humiliating way, but other things are still quite similar like verbal abuse.
“Physical bullying is apparent right away and cyberbullying you have evidence, but name calling is more difficult.
“People don’t always realise what effect verbal bullying can have.
“It is the type of thing that no one wants to tell you about it, it’s so small that it has got so large.
“When we spoke to people about it they talked about name calling and stereotypes - like Emo or Chav.
“I have been called a chav because of my clothes and I don’t like it.
“I think it is upsetting to be forced into a box, you may dress a certain way but it doesn’t say anything about who you are.”
Samira, added: “Once someone is reported for cyberbullying they can be removed from social networking sites, but it is harder to remove the things people say.”
For Jo Wood, Northamptonshire County Council’s anti-bullying and equalities officer, having young people onboard is essential.
“I couldn’t do my job without the young people that we have. It is the young people that know what is going on and they provide essential advice in tackling bullying,” she said.
“Samira and Devante are members of the shadow board and along with other young people on the anti-bullying advisory group they play a key role in driving the strategy forward.”
Another anti-bullying project the children have been involved in is an accreditation program where young people help to assess the ways schools deal with bullying.
There are 100 schools and academies in the county involved in the accreditation program, but so far only one has been given a gold standard.
“We have given Campion School a gold standard, after we went there and spoke to school governors, parents and the headteachers about what they would do to prevent bullying in their schools and what should be picked up more often.”
“The reason they got a gold is they have ways to deal with it in place, but there will still be bullying after it is all put in place, which they acknowledged.” added Devante.
Although bullying is being targeted, the extent of the problem is still something that remains unclear.
Figures are only readily available for racial bullying. A freedom of information request submitted earlier this year discovered there had been 1,794 reports of racism at county schools over the past five years.
“The only type of bullying to be recorded is racial bullying, this for historical reasons since the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry,” says Jo.
“We are trying to get statistics for all forms of bullying so we can get a clearer picture.
“I did some work in 2008 where I looked at bullying occurring in Year 5, 7, 8, who had been bullied in the last 12 months.
“From what we saw in 2008 40 per cent of pupils will probably experience some form of bullying at some point over those years.”
But dealing with bullying, no matter what they type, is something the young people have an opinion on.
“Detentions don’t solve the problem it can provoke them more because they think ‘oh they got me into trouble’,” says Devante
“In my opinion the best way to deal with bullies is to make them realise the harm they do.
“It is also really important if you see bullying not to just watch it happen and think it is a laugh.
“Even if they are friends with the bully or scared of the bully they should report it to the teachers.”
“If we could give one piece of advice to someone being bullied, it would be to tell someone,” says Samira.
“It is ok to be different.”
This year the strategy may be unable to run its anti-bullying song writing competition due to lack of funding. Anyone who would like to support this can email: jlwood@northamptonshire.gov.uk.
“When I was in Year 7 I was beaten up in the street and filmed by my ‘school-mates.’
“It was awful if I could stop that happening to just one person, I will do everything I can to do it,” says 16-year-old Lexi Bambrough, from Duston.
Lexi is one of a number of young people on the Northampton Youth Forum, a youth council made up of made up of elected representatives of young people aged from 13 to 19-years-old, who aim to speak up for, and on behalf of, young people in the town.
Following a survey they undertook in the town they have recently launched a campaign ‘Stamp out Hate Crime’, in a bid to tackle the problem.
“We did a survey and 90 per cent of people said they were concerned about it and didn’t know where to get help,” says Charlie Bell, a forum member, aged 13 from Northampton School for Boys.”
After the survey young people have looked at different ways to help tackle the problem and their campaign has been supported by numerous bodies including Northamptonshire Police and Northampton Town Football Club.
“We want to stop hate crime of any sort from calling names to any type of cyberbullying,” says Lexi.
“People sometimes think of bullying as some sort of playground thing and name calling.
“Hate crime better describes what it is and how severally it can effect people.
“We have started a Facebook Group which has almost 200 likes and we are having events and printing posters.
“We really want to get real faces, real stories involved and really hit home.
“We would urge anyone to come to our events, sign our pledges and just get involved.”
Fellow Forum member Jake Fisher, 16, who is a pupil at the Weston Favell Academy, said: “We are trying to make young people realise there is a way out and they are not going to be bullied for the rest of their life.
“I was bullied when I was about 12. I have always been more mature for my age because I am a full-time carer for my mum and I didn’t have a social life.
“In the end I learnt to ignore them and they moved onto someone else.
“At the time I felt I had no one to talk to but I was recommended to a school councillor and that really assisted me.
“Our campaign is really to push people to speak to someone when they need help.
“All the people on the Youth Forum are trying to work with their schools to do something and my school has been really good, I have met the headteacher and we have agreed to do a pledge board and are looking at getting campaign wrist bands.
“I think a lot of the older generation don’t seem to take bullying seriously, we want people to realise it is a serious issue and it can push people to take their own life.”
The Forum is looking for people to share their personal stories of surviving hate crime and for those who have done things to tackle hate crime to support the campaign. Its first interview date will be October 24. For further information contact the youth forum’s co-ordinator Lindsey Ambrose on: 0779 53 33 687 or email: lambrose@northampton.gov.uk or visit www.facebook.com/stampouthatecrime or www.northampton.gov.uk/stampouthatecrime.
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Fragglemoo
Thursday, October 6, 2011 at 08:34 AMJackson - are you aware of how many lives bullying affects? are you aware of how many lives are lost through bullying? Have you ever been bullied? Do you realise how many people today are cyberbullied? not only kids but adults too.The work that Jo Wood and the Anti Bullying boardsforums do is vital. Oh and making juvenile comments about the colour of Jo Woods hair is a form of bullying.
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Wednesday, October 5, 2011 at 12:50 PMAnother slow news day. What is the colour of your hair by the way? Will you be laid off in the recession? "For Jo Wood, Northamptonshire County Council’s anti-bullying and equalities officer, having young people onboard is essential " A "shadow board" defies belief. What are your wages by the way? Freedom of information concerned here.
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