Bullying UK is a registered charity which was founded in 1999 by journalist Liz Carnell from Harrogate and her son John, as a direct result of their experience of dealing with school bullying. Liz has been researching and writing on school bullying issues for 14 years and now uses the Internet to provide information and advice.

www.bullying.co.uk

The Bullying.co.uk website has a huge collection of articles for young people, schools, parents and other adults. There is also a useful section about cyberbullying. Don’t forget to follow Bullying UK on Twitter, or consider making a donation if you can.

Rewarding school children has just become much easier and more cost-effective thanks to an exciting new incentive programme, Carrot Rewards, and teachers across the country are being invited to pilot the scheme.

School Stickers is already the leader in school rewards with more than 150,000 pupils from 3000 schools currently using the MyStickers system. It uses the rewards that teachers have used for decades – stickers, cards and certificates – but saves them time, as each reward has a unique code and the onus is on the pupils to log their rewards themselves on www.mystickers.co.uk.

The new Carrot Rewards takes the scheme to the next level by making it fully interactive for teachers. Through www.carrotrewards.co.uk teachers to customise their own reward scheme and allows them to;

• Run competitions – from simple class league tables, to complex multilayered competitions
• Keep pupils engaged – with access to up to the minute leader-boards for a wide range of options including year, subject, form, class, tutor group, or any other school-specific group.
• Manage rewards – ensuring students are engaged and in contention until the last minute, and that no pupils are missed.
• Save time – Pupils log own rewards so no more reward counting
• Save money – Carrot Rewards is free to Pioneer Partners, has no set up charges, and packs start at just £25 for 1,400 stickers.

School Stickers are looking for teachers to pioneer the programme and provide feedback. All those that sign up will receive a free subscription to www.carrotrewards.co.uk, 25% off all school stickers products bought for use with this programme, and the satisfaction of knowing their opinions will be used to shape the future of this exciting new product.

Henry Shelford, CEO of School Stickers says, “Our scheme has been trusted by thousands of schools to reward pupils for good behaviour and achievement ever since it was created by a teacher in 2000.  MyStickers.co.uk has always allowed pupils to log their own rewards, so teachers don’t have to. Carrot Rewards puts teachers fully in control, enabling them to customise their very own reward schemes, and see at any time precisely how their pupils are doing. It is based on what teachers have done successfully for years but brings it into the 21st Century.”

To try www.CarrotRewards.co.uk log in as “tryme@carrotrewards.co.uk” and password “carrot”.

To try www.myStickers.co.uk you can register as a pupil for free. Test sticker codes are available at www.carrotrewards.co.uk/codes/

To sign up for the scheme, contact Henry Shelford, CEO of School Stickers, at www.schoolstickers.co.uk, henry@schoolstickers.co.uk, 0121 333 3600.

Beverley Hughes today published a consultation on new guidance to help professionals spot the first signs of gang membership.

This guidance is aimed at professionals such as social workers, youth workers and youth offending teams already working with young people displaying risk factors. The guidance highlights risk factors which could signal towards their involvement in gangs. Some high level risk factors are:

•    Early problems with antisocial and criminal behaviour
•    Persistent offending
•    Unable to regulate own emotions and behaviour
•    Physical violence and aggression
•    Permanent exclusion from school
•    Friends condoning or involved in antisocial and aggressive behaviour
•    Alcohol and drug misuse

Link: http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/docbank/index.cfm?id=12639

The Government has published revised guidance on children missing education and launched a review of home education.  This will ensure that everything possible is being done to guarantee all children their right to a balanced education in a safe, healthy environment.

The guidance makes clear that local authorities have a duty to make arrangements to enable them to establish that every school-age child is receiving a suitable education, and clarifies the roles and responsibilities of parents and local authorities to provide a suitable education for children.

A public consultation gathered a wide range of views – including many on home education. Some local authorities and children’s organisations expressed concerns about the current system’s ability to adequately support and monitor the education, safety and wellbeing of home educated children.
The review of home education will investigate the current system for supporting and monitoring home education. It will look at safeguarding and how any concerns about the safety, welfare or education of children are dealt with. There are no plans to change parents’ well established rights to educate their children at home.

It will assess the effectiveness of current arrangements for parents who home educate and of local authority systems for supporting children and families. It will also make recommendations for improvements, where necessary.

The revised guidance can be found at http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/ete/childrenmissingeducation/

Dispatches is on tonight looking at Britain’s Challenging Children.  Here is the information that I’ve been sent from the Director Brian Woods:

“Tonight at 8pm Dispatches spends a year inside 5 UK primary schools to uncover the enormous challenges faced by teachers dealing with violent and disruptive behaviour.  97% of teachers say they have to deal with disruptive pupils in their classroom – pupils like Levi in Luton, who regularly has to storm out of class for fear that he might lose control; or Jordyn in Glasgow whose swearing and aggression frightens teachers and classmates alike.

With remarkable results, we follow Levi, Jordyn and others as their schools reach out to both children and parents to address the roots of their behaviour.  But with this kind of support available only in a tiny minority of schools, are we doing enough?”

Dispatches: Britain’s Challenging Children – Channel 4 8pm

It’s time to get up, pull on the school uniform and the tie with
that dreaded knot – the special knot that would otherwise show you up.
Downstairs you eat the breakfast your oblivious parents have prepared
on automatic drive, grab the school bag, say goodbye to “Frazzle” the
dog who looks back with those large caring eyes, head slanted and tail
still.  He knows; he is the only one who really knows.

You leave for the longest journey on earth. It lasts a lifetime but
takes only 15 minutes. Goodbyes are muted and you force yourself out of
the car and through the front gate for the day ahead. You have arrived
at school, the place you dread more than anything.

Being bullied and suffering from low self esteem is
an awful predicament. It’s there as a constant, like toothache it
pervades every thought. The trip home the only relief, the chance to
recover suffer in silence and hide from the outside world. And your
performance at school is well down compared to your real ability.

A recent survey in Northern Ireland shows 22 % of all children have
been physically attacked by school bullies, 39% bullied in other ways
and thanks to modern technology 10% percent had been bullied by
Internet.

Bullying takes many forms; name calling, rumours, being pushed
threatened, belongings stolen or damaged.  But these are the outward
signs.  Internally the physical and psychological damage can be immense
and long lasting.

Pip Jaffa, chief executive of the Northern Ireland Parents Advice
Centre explained “The impact depends on the kind of bullying and the
resilience of a child. This can include not sleeping and not wanting to
go to school, as well as physical symptoms like having a sore stomach
or headache as a way of showing they are upset.”

In the clamour of family life these subtle changes can go unnoticed
for some time before the child opens up or you spot a growing
reluctance to go school or join in. Bullying has a knock on effect, it
lowers self esteem and the defence mechanism is breached.

Bullies need help too, often compensating for their own problems or
influences. Parents can sometimes induce bullying. Their children
mismanage advise that to succeed you need to dominate other children or
push them around.  Such advice can be given by parents who were
themselves bullied at school or suffering from issues at work.

There are many ways to support bullied children.  Diligent
observation of a child’s behaviour is the start.  Changes in routine
and demeanour, a reluctance to participate are just some of the outward
signs.  A routine child’s “health check” needs to be completed subtly
by parents. If a parent is concerned that bullying is taking place in
school, they should contact the school and ensure something is done.
They need to be persistent and remember that they are the voice for the
child.

Help is also available for the home. It is important a child – like
us all have positive self esteem. This essential ingredient can help
build up a positive attitude that will last a lifetime.  The foundation
work can be achieved through playing educational games in self esteem.
Played at home, as well as school, the benefits are something to
consider as 25% of children will come across some form of bullying
during their schooling.

Alistair Owens writes for keen2learn

Headteachers were advised today to screen pupils’ computer accounts and gather proof, including photographic evidence, where they suspect teenagers and primary children of joining gangs. Ministers have drawn up advice to schools on identifying and dealing with gang members amid growing evidence young pupils are drawn in by older siblings. They are concerned sexual abuse of girls is spreading through gang cultures.

The document, seen by the Guardian, suggests:

· Headteachers set out emergency plans to deal with sudden outbreaks of weapon-related violence, and inform child protection experts if they suspect girls are being sexually abused in “initiation rituals” or revenge attacks by rival gangs;

· Teachers should learn to identify signs of gang membership such as pupils wearing certain colours, items of jewellery, or clothing. Some pupils now wear weapon-proof clothing, the document says;

· Emphasis is placed on schools working in intelligence operations with police and local partners to protect children at risk;

· Staff should be trained to look out for tags, graffiti, in the streets or in notebooks, or for pupils who suddenly acquire expensive trainers or mobile phones;

· Schools which suspect there may be gangs operating in their student body should “gather evidence” including photos of tags, and behaviour records;

· Some schools may employ tactics including “screening tools” to monitor students on social networking sites, or use powers to search pupils suspected of carrying weapons.

The guidance says that gangs are “predominantly male”, continuing: “There are a few female gangs, but more often girls are subservient in the male gangs and even submissive.” It warns of sexual exploitation which might include “initiation rituals” or “revenge attacks” against members of other gangs.

It goes on: “There is local evidence of some young children (including primary age) engaged in gang activities. In some areas the groups may be relatively formalised into age groups, for example’tinys’ who can progress to ‘youngers’ then ‘elders’, usually through symbolic acts of crime.”

Here is an email I received from Ahmed regarding his website housepoints.net:

I created housepoints.net to allow my school to track house points online. It’s been a big hit with the teachers, students and parents so I’ve now made it available for other schools to use. You can find more information on the following page:

http://www.housepoints.net/for_teachers

The site is free to use and I intend to keep it that way for the forseeable future. It’s been designed with simplicity in mind and there’s a special “student mode” to allow students to enter their own points – less work for the teachers!

Parents can be given access to their child’s profile and at my school this has reinvigorated the house points system – parents are taking more of an interest in school and for the children, earning house points is a big deal again. (I’ve had plenty of reports of parents praising/rewarding children at home when they’ve had a particularly good day and that has helped to reinforce the behaviour policy outside school).

There’s a short guided tour and online demo you can try. The demo is reset periodically so feel free to make make changes.

It’s a fresh look on the team / house points system and certainly worth considering – even if you just use the points with your class. I’d like to see the system being made more child friendly – maybe awarding stars for x number of points etc.

Link: http://www.housepoints.net/

According to a survey by the ATL 1 in 10 teachers say they have been attacked and injured by violent pupils. The ATL surveyed 800 members across the UK and found two-thirds believed standards of behaviour were getting worse, despite repeated government attempts to crack down on poor discipline.

Nearly all state school and college staff who took part in the study reported problems with low-level disruption, such as pupils talking, using mobile phones in class, and ignoring teachers’ requests.

3 out of 10 said they had experienced “physical aggression”, while three-quarters said they had been threatened or insulted by a pupil. One in 10 teachers and college lecturers said a violent student had caused them “physical harm”.

More details are available on the Guardian website.

I’ve received a email today asking for help with a new TV Dispatches documentary about violence in school. Full details are below:

Violence in British schools is a recognised problem by the government and society. Teachers need more help, and effective programmes need to be put in place to improve child behaviour. But how do we do this? True Vision Productions is making a film exploring the issue of violent child behaviour for the Channel Four series, Dispatches.

We would like to hear from teachers who have experienced violent behaviour exhibited by pupils in their school and are keen to address the issue with the use of early intervention programmes, or who have used such programmes before. We are hoping to film the work of established organisations who work with schools to help teachers effectively tackle the roots of aggression and prevent further violence.

The documentary will take a serious look at how important the issue of child violence is in society, how it is damaging children’s prospects at home and at school, and how we, as a society, need to explore ways to minimise violent behaviour.

True Vision Productions is one of the UK’s top documentary companies. We have considerable experience in filming with children and within schools. In particular ‘Beating the Bullies’, a film about peer mediation among primary school children. We have recently won two Baftas for best documentary and won many other awards including eight Emmies.

For more information on the film and the work of the early intervention programmes, please contact Joanna on 0208 742 7852 or Joanna@truevisiontv.com. There is no obligation to take part and all correspondence is confidential.

We look forward to hearing from you.