PartyDanceUK – Dance to SAME DIFFERENCE, STEPS, LADY GAGA, KYLIE, S CLUB, GIRLS ALOUD, KATY PERRY, etc; + ONLINE CAMPAIGN TO RAISE AWARENESS ON SCHOOL-BULLYING; + FUNdraising events.

YEAR OF AWARENESS FOR BULLYING.

I would like to put forward the idea of working towards a Year of Awareness for Bullying in which children of all ages, teachers and parents could work together on projects to help reduce bullying in schools with the aim of hopefully making it a thing of the past. Combined with active media participation this initiative would further highlight the issue of bullying in schools as well as complimenting work already being done to alleviate the situation.

I hope to encourage society to work on developing many local initiatives which in turn would make up the big national project of the Year of Awareness for Bullying. There may eventually be hundreds or thousands of local initiatives being developed, each one brought about by the needs of local schools or communities. The more local initiatives there are the greater the number of ideas which could be shared then, if necessary a central co-ordinating office could be set up to distribute the various ideas to share between all the different areas so everyone can benefit.

I envisage everyone involved in the Year making a concerted effort using discussions, drama, writing about experiences, storytelling and whatever other resources they have available. Slogans could be invented to capture the imagination with competitions for the most original. Another idea could be “School’s Cool” badges made to reflect the mood. Children could even invent a new word meaning kind, caring, respectful, considerate and which would be the new fashion.

Children, whether they be victims, bullies, witnesses to a bullying situation or those to whom confidences have been entrusted have a wealth of experience to contribute to the project. By becoming involved bullies could channel their negative energy into something really positive and worthwhile, realising they would be contributing towards a truly exciting and important goal and they could even do this anonymously if preferred. They really have so much they could offer.

As well as the Year of Awareness for Bullying being attractive to children for its own sake children would find it even more appealing if their contribution were to be to their local initiative as opposed to contributing directly to the one large national project in which their effort would be just “1 in millions” in a vast melting-pot of ideas. There is a far greater likelihood of their contribution being noticed on a local level and this would make each child feel really special (while, of course, at the same time being part of the big national effort.)

Generally, then, the Year could involve children, parents, teachers, victims, bullies, youth clubs, education authorities together with media participation including TV, radio, the press and the internet. The media could help generate interest by, amongst other things, encouraging participation in TV and radio phone-in’s and discussions involving the general public so that experiences, opinions and new ideas can be aired and including parents, children, etc. Seminars and informal talks could be encouraged within schools and youth clubs. Hopefully, the Year would mean that eventually no child will ever have to suffer the distress of being bullied and its effects again.

Page created 15th March 2010.