As part of Anti-bullying week 2015, Education Minister, Huw Lewis is reminding pupils, teachers, parents and others that bullying is everyone’s business.
The Minister has given his backing to this year’s anti bullying campaign which is aimed at helping everyone to understand and identify the signs of bullying.
The campaign calls on people to be aware of the four common features of bullying. These are:
- It is usually repetitive and persistent
- It is intentionally harmful
- It involves an imbalance of power
- It causes distress, fear, loneliness and lack of confidence
The Minister is also urging people to make use of the range of Welsh Government resources aimed at preventing bullying.
These include the ‘Are you being bullied?’ leaflet which gives advice to children and young people facing bullying and will shortly be sent to all school children in Wales.
A separate leaflet, “Is your child being bullied?” is also available for parents.
Young people can also get help through Meic, Wales’ free confidential helpline for children and young people that is open 24 hours, 7 days a week, and through the Education Begins at Home Facebook page.
Additionally the Welsh Government is providing more anti bullying support to practitioners, and lesson plans for Key Stages 2, 3 and 4 are now available on Hwb to help teachers explore issues around bullying with their pupils.
The Education Minister said:
“Anti Bullying Week provides another opportunity to make the point that bullying has no place in our schools. It is simply unacceptable and no child or young person should have to put up with it.
“This year’s campaign is aimed at helping us all to identify the signs of bullying so we can take action to address it. To support this, the Welsh Government has produced a range of anti bullying resources for pupils, parents and teachers.
“I hope that by working together, and spreading the message that bullying is unacceptable, we really can stamp it out of our schools.”
Later on in Anti-Bullying Week, Transport Minister Edwina Hart will launch a consultation on an improved Learner Travel Behaviour Code. This will include more robust measures to prevent bullying on school transport.
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