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contents3 FOrewOrd
4 YOung PeOPle led The waY aT naTiOnal cOnFerence
6 POlicY MaTTers
8 caPaciTY Building
10 resPecTMe Online cOMMuniTY
12 YOuTh grOuPs PrOMOTe anTi-BullYing week
14 wOrThY winners
16 andY’s sTOrY
18 keY highlighTs
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forewordThis has been very significant year for everyone at respectme. The last 12 months have not just seen ‘more of the same’; we continue to innovate and to develop new and inclusive ways of leading on anti-bullying work in Scotland.
This includes the development of our own social networking site, a platform that allows practitioners to interact, share and learn in a way they could not do before. This exciting resource will continue to grow and we want you all to play an active role in contributing to our community.
Anti-bullying week in November 2009 saw us take our activity to a whole new level. Alongside launching the social networking site, we hosted our biggest conference to date. Yet again the conference is notable for its inclusion and leadership from children and young people. Too often their inclusion at events is seen as ‘tokenistic’ but to see children and young people deliver workshops, debate significant issues and canvas opinions throughout the day is something we are very proud of and will continue to do.
Anti-Bullying Week also saw the culmination of partnership work with five youth groups from across Scotland. We decided to take a different approach to campaigning during this time and gave five groups the opportunity to raise awareness and engage with their communities. The results were inspiring and you can read more about it later in the report.
Last year we committed to increasing the number of training events we deliver organisationally and the activity this year has been incredible; the number of events has increased by 200% in the last 12 months and we continue to engage with a truly diverse range of stakeholders.
We continue to influence policy at a local and at a national level; our work to engage with all of Scotland’s local authorities is ongoing and has seen some excellent new and revised policies launched this year. We also look forward to the response from the consultation on the national approach to anti-bullying in Scotland.
As promised last year we have developed a self-evaluation model that allows us to continually review what we do. This year has seen phase one of the external evaluation, which focused on the impact we have had on our stakeholders. A report will be available at the end of April and I look forward to sharing its findings. Phase two will begin in May and will evaluate the subsequent impact on children and young people.
Effective partnerships are at the heart of everything we do. Change can only be achieved by working together, and we look forward to playing our part.
“It has certainly been a busy year for respectme with two anti-bullying conferences held, the launch of new school resources such as the Andy’s story DVD, and extensive anti-bullying training and support for local authorities and schools. Anti-bullying remains central to making sure Scottish education and our new approach through Curriculum for Excellence is accessible and beneficial to all. It contributes to the health and wellbeing of all our children and young people. That’s why the work of respectme is so important. I know respectme will be instrumental in helping to instil a national and consistent approach to anti-bullying for Scotland’s young people, both now and in the future.’
Keith Brown, Minister for Schools and Skills Brian Donnelly, Minister for Skills and Lifelong Learning
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YOung PeOPle led The waY aT naTiOnal cOnFerence
November saw us host Scotland’s third national anti-bullying conference at the Crowne Plaza in Glasgow. It was our second conference in 2009, following the success of ‘You can make a difference’ at Murrayfield Stadium last February.
We were joined by key speakers including Tam Baillie, Scotland’s Commissioner for Children & Young People and Keith Brown, Minister for Skills & Lifelong Learning. Over 260 delegates attended from across Scotland to take part in a series of discussions and workshops – three of which were delivered by children and young people. In fact, the extensive involvement and participation of children and young people from across Scotland was a key factor in the day’s success.
Really enjoyed this. It added a new dimension to the conference itself, and was interesting to hear the views of well-informed and thoughtful young people.
Comment from delegate on the conference debate
The peer mediation workshop was excellent; a nice mix of active learning and listening. The children were fantastic.
Comment from conference delegate
“Thoroughly enjoyed the workshops. Learned a lot; particularly liked the involvement of young people. The drama workshop was very skilfully presented and managed. The involvement of young people made it ‘real’. It was obvious they were used to this kind of activity. Their professional approach is to be applauded.”
Comment from conference delegate
Students from St Margaret Mary’s Secondary School helped to deliver a workshop, ‘using drama as a resource with children and young people’, while young peer mediators from Ormiston Primary School joined Carol Hope from the Scottish Mediation Network to highlight the challenges and benefits of developing peer mediation schemes in schools and out-of-school groups.
Young people from Gypsy Travellers Lives educated – and in many cases, surprised – delegates with their myth-busting quiz about the lives of Gypsy/Travellers, and young people from CK Respect showcased the work they’ve done over the past two years, which examined bullying among people with learning difficulties.
A very well structured debate took place between students from Port Glasgow and St Andrew’s and St Bride’s High Schools, and was facilitated by Glenn Campbell, presenter of ‘The Politics Show’.
Port Glasgow High had perhaps the more daunting task of presenting the argument for the motion, but they did so very convincingly and professionally:
The significant occurrence of bullying in our schools is a problem - this is unquestionable. We also know that Government reports and figures clearly show that exclusion for bullying is remarkably low compared to other
reasons for exclusion such as disruptive behaviour. Surely it’s time to call this behaviour to account?
When it came to opposing the motion, the speakers from St Andrew’s and St Bride’s summed up their final thoughts:
Exclusions illustrate failure. They don’t allow the school to work with the person exhibiting the bullying behaviour and support him/her to change the behaviour. Communication and working together is a more effective approach to dealing with any difficulty within the school community.
To capture the overall feel of the day, we were also joined by young people from Arbroath Academy who interviewed delegates about the conference and their views on a range of bullying issues. The interviews will be available on our YouTube channel shortly, and a full conference report can be downloaded from our website.
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‘Exclusions are the best way of dealing with bullying behaviour in schools’ was the motion very ably argued by students from both schools.
Every child has the right to enjoy education and play in a safe, secure environment. To help achieve this, we play a key role in supporting partners and stakeholders to develop robust and inclusive anti-bullying policies which can be applied to everyday practice.
We continue to work strategically with partners to influence policy at a national level and this year we made a key contribution to the Scottish Government’s consultation on the national approach to anti-bullying in Scotland, through our membership of the Scottish Anti-Bullying Steering Group.
This year has also seen us strengthen our relationships with other national bodies to influence national policy, including: Learning & Teaching Scotland; Together, the Scottish Alliance for Children’s Rights; Young Scotland in Mind and Scotland’s Children’s Sector Forum.
We have contributed significantly to the development of Mental Health Indicators for children and young people, and have a presence on the Scottish Mental and Emotional Wellbeing Schools Forum, which involves supporting the implementation of Curriculum for Excellence, the UNCRC, and Scotland’s National Outcomes.
Our ongoing relationships with Scotland’s local authorities continue to grow and we have welcomed the launch of policies in Dundee, Glasgow, Renfrewshire, Angus, Clackmannanshire, Argyll and Bute, Aberdeen City and South Ayrshire. We also helped Highland Council with their unique approach to Cyberbullying policy and practice. All of our policy development work is supported by a range of resources, including our ‘Policy through to Practice’ workbook and one-day training.
Successful policy development and implementation relies on extensive consultation, not only among adults but with children and young people. In the past year we’ve worked with a number of organisations to facilitate discussion with children and young people to ensure that their input has influenced and shaped anti-bullying policies across Scotland.
In the coming year we will focus on engaging with those local authorities who are scheduled to revise their policies, and will continue to develop our presence in all other areas where services are provided to children and young people.
POlicY MaTTers….
“As the managing partner of respectme, SAMH is proud of the work that respectme has achieved in the past year through its influence on anti-bullying policy and practice at a local and national level. SAMH will strive to work towards the future development of respectme as an integral part of its overall national anti-bullying programme.”
Billy Watson, Chief Executive of SAMH
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POlicY MaTTers….
Case Study: September 2009 saw the launch of Angus Council’s revised anti-bullying policy. The policy was developed by a partnership of staff from primary and secondary schools and education support services, and involved consultation with staff, parents, pupils and members of the community. The policy endorses the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, noting that ‘Children have the right to protection from all forms of violence (physical or mental). They must be given proper care by those looking after them’. (UNCRC, Article 19)
Angus Council has also introduced a direct link between the information being captured via their recording forms. The Council is committed to giving anti-bullying work an appropriate profile and priority within their Single Outcome Agreement by having an indicator to measure the competence and confidence of adults to respond appropriately to the concerns of children and young people.
“Your service has brought anti-bullying into the 21st century, which was very much needed.”
Gillian Strachan, Lead Officer, Angus Council
2009/2010 has been another significant year for our practice development activities.
In the past 12 months, we’ve trained 712 people over 47 different events and there are now 372 people who are trained to deliver respectme training to colleagues in their organisations and communities.
Last year 117 people attended generic organisational training, a number which increased significantly to 302 in 2009/10. During the same period, the number of people who attended organisational Training for Trainers events more than doubled.
We’ve been delighted with this uptake for our training, which remains high for events in the coming year. This ‘cascade’ approach is vital to ensuring that there are genuine opportunities for adults across Scotland our access anti-bullying training and resources.
While we’ve continued to offer a full calendar of generic anti-bullying training and Training for Trainer events, we’ve seen a considerable increase in demand for bespoke training at an organisational level to compliment much of the work we’ve been doing around policy development and review.
This has led to partnerships with a number of organisations over the last 12 months, including those with Glasgow, Renfrewshire and Angus Councils, the Scottish out of School Care Network and the Edinburgh Voluntary Organisations Council.
Thousands of children and young people across Scotland will potentially benefit from our partnership with the Scottish out of School Care Network (SOSCN), the body which represents over 1000 out of school care services. We worked with SOSCN to review their anti-bullying policy guidance and delivered Policy into Practice training for key sector staff.
We delivered a follow-up anti-bullying training taster session in March, to enable SOSCN’s Development Officers to promote respectme’s resources to staff throughout the country.
Volunteers and staff working with children and families in Edinburgh are benefiting from a new community engagement training partnership we have formed with Edinburgh Voluntary Organisations Council.
After attending Training for Trainers, two staff worked with us to develop a tailored anti-bullying workshop as part of the Volunteers for Children and Families (VCF) forum’s rolling programme of training. The workshop was piloted in November, integrating a dedicated anti-bullying element to a programme that also features equality and diversity, counselling skills and mental health.
caPaciTY Building
We are expanding the range of training we offer in the 2010/11 calendar.
‘Cyberbullying...Are you switched on? our new one-day training, was developed in response to growing concerns from stakeholders about cyberbullying and its impact. The training has been informed by the views and experiences of children and young people and events are taking place in May and September.
Our Policy into Practice training is also being rolled out following a fantastic
response to the workshop we delivered at our conference. This training is designed to support organisations to review and develop anti-bullying policies through an inclusive process that genuinely impacts on practice. We’ve taken a more practical and activity-based approach with this training, which will bring added value for participants and their organisations.
Further information on training dates and venues can be viewed on the website: http://www.respectme.org.uk/Training-Calendar.html
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Case Study: This year we worked in partnership with Glasgow City Council to deliver a major anti-bullying training programme that will impact across all 29 of the city’s learning communities. More than 80 education staff participated in one of four tailored two-day Training for Trainer events between October and December. A broad range of staff from across the local authority attended, including primary and secondary teachers, senior management and educational psychologists.
The programme is designed to support the implementation of Glasgow City Council’s revised anti-bullying policy, which was launched at the end of last year, and training participants are now working in teams to provide this resource for colleagues and partners in their own communities.
“Your service has brought anti-bullying into the 21st century, which was very much needed.”
Glasgow City Council
“Working in partnership with respectme has allowed Glasgow City Council to have a team of anti-bullying trainers in every Learning Community. This amounts to a not unsubstantial cohort of 75 teachers, educational psychologists and child development officers. Individual teams provide a resource to their Learning Community allowing establishments to plan and deliver on this important aspect of staff CPD. The skills, time and expertise of the respectme trainers has been crucial to the implementation of our CPD strategy. Glasgow looks forward to continuing this partnership and appreciates the ongoing support provided by respectme to this cohort of authority trainers.”
Loretta ScottQuality Improvement Officer Pastoral care/Child protection, Glasgow City Council
new training
We’re always looking for new ways to interact with our stakeholders and this year saw the creation of new online communications to help us do just that.
Two-way dialogue with our stakeholders is something that we’ve always welcomed and with the respectme website being firmly established as a source of information and advice, we’ve created our own social network, Ning.
We were clear that we didn’t want to ‘do’ social networking for the sake of it, but we genuinely believe that it provides another worthwhile means of engaging with stakeholders nationally and internationally.
Ning allows us to create our own community with people like you who have an interest in anti-bullying work in Scotland. As with other social networks you can upload photos and videos, and share your views on a number of ‘hot topics’ and discussion forums. Ning has replaced the myrespectme section of the website and a new section has been created for resources, including our online learning, which is being developed to include new activities that can be used with children and young people.
Ning is particularly suited to practitioners and people who deliver respectme training. Trainers can share their experiences and examples of good practice with others, and arrange to work in partnership with other trainers and organisations in their community. Practitioners can use the site to
share ideas, access information and advice and develop relationships with colleagues at home and abroad. To join our community, log on and register at: www.respect-me.ning.com
Or why not follow us on Twitter? Receive news and at-a-glance updates on the work that we’re doing and see what our followers are saying about anti-bullying in Scotland: www.twitter.com/_respectme_
We will continue to provide practical anti-bullying advice and guidance in person and through the respectme website as we have always done, but these additional online communities allow you to follow our work and interact with us, and others, in a less formal way. Come and join us!
Online cOMMuniTYrespectme
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Traditionally Anti-Bullying Week has seen the launch of a respectme campaign to raise awareness of bullying and related issues. While we continued in that vein this year, through the sponsorship of Real Radio’s Internet Safety Month and a radio campaign around cyberbullying, we decided to do things slightly differently to help promote Scotland-wide activity.
In June we worked in partnership with Youth Scotland to identify five youth groups who each received £1000 of respectme funding to develop activities to promote Anti-Bullying Week in their local area.
6VT Youth Café in Edinburgh ran a week long programme of events which culminated in a Question Time session at the Scottish Parliament. The panel, which included Sarah Boyack MSP, faced a series of bullying-related questions from an audience of young people and other youth work industry professionals. It is
estimated that throughout the week the café had a footfall of 125 young people and 30 adults from the youth work sector.
Through Peer Education Classes at McLaren High School, Callander Youth Project developed a series of bullying-related workshops which can be used with pupils in P6, P7 and S1 and S2, as well as with youth group members. The group also ran a poster competition for schools in the rural Stirlingshire area.
The East meets West Young Carers Project in Glasgow brought together a group of 14 young carers from opposite sides of the city. Following four weeks of discussions, idea generation and rehearsals, the group performed a bullying-themed drama presentation to an audience of parents and community members.
Brae Youth Club in Shetland held ‘Demolishing the Divides’, a disco for Secondary school students in the North Mainland of Shetland. In the build up to the event the group carried out anti-bullying work within each Youth Club region: Northern Isles, North Mainland, West & Central, Lerwick and South Mainland.
YOuTh grOuPs PrOMOTe anTi-BullYing week
BackchaT YOuTh grOuP
discuss BullYing
YOung PeOPle aT
‘deMOlishing The divides’
in sheTland
Case Study: During the months of October and November members participated in wide ranging workshops looking at and discussing bullying and its many faces. It soon became apparent that this was a massive subject, with links to many other challenges that our membership face. For example, why does the bully, bully? Who is the real victim? The consequences of doing nothing!
Shortly before the anti-bullying workshops kicked off, we suffered the loss of a former member as result of a tragic and “high profile” suicide. Apart from the grief, there was an added awareness and a heightened sensitivity felt by us all; members and staff.
This possibly gave an extra dynamic to our anti-bullying work. The planned programme definitely altered and became less task/ function centred and much more person centred - which in itself created other challenges.
We completed workshops and excursions associated with our anti-bullying work. The members took the outcomes of the workshops and produced a variety of performances: dance, drama, poetry, play and puppet show. There was a successful evening, during Anti-Bullying Week itself, when members put on these performances to a full house within the Project. This meant family and friends had the opportunity to understand the issues surrounding bullying and the urgency required in tackling situations where bullying is taking place.
These messages were also communicated to the wider community through a series of newspaper articles given prominence by the Helensburgh Advertiser and the Community News.
However…the individual, person-centred outcomes were much more significant. We found that we had a number of members who had been in a very bad place as a result of bullying. The workshops ended up creating pathways that these members could take in order to resolve their issues, and even have the confidence to raise the issues with the necessary adults/authorities involved. Some people even became aware that activities they had indulged in were abusive to others, and this raised other issues that had to be dealt with.
As a Youth Worker, this is one of the most valuable and timely pieces of work that I have been involved with. I sincerely believe it made a big difference to a number of children’s lives and also made some people in authority take a closer look at how certain perceived “conflict situations” were being dealt with. On behalf of the members and staff of the Backchat Youth Project, I take this opportunity to thank respectme, Youth Scotland, and the staff of both those organisations for their support and enthusiasm in tackling bullying.
Michael Yeomans, Youth Worker, Backchat Youth Group
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This year’s Anti-Bullying Week competition attracted over 2,000 entries from schools and youth groups across Scotland. The calibre has been consistently high in recent years, and this year saw an amazing variety of submissions, ranging from paintings and poems to sculpture and short films.
We specified three categories for the competition - creative writing, artistic and performance – which was again based around the theme, ‘what bullying means to me’. This seems to have provided children and young people with a more specific focus - and provided us with the increasingly difficult task of choosing winners!
The time and creativity dedicated to the competition was clear to see and our thanks go to everyone who submitted an entry. The winners received their prizes from Keith Brown, Minister for Skills and Lifelong Learning, at respectme’s conference in Anti-Bullying Week.
Artistic categoryWinner - Shaun Roach from Kings Park Primary School in Edinburgh
Submission – Sculpture: ‘The boy with a tear in his eye’
Runner-up - Lewis Laird from Queen Anne High School in Dunfermline
Submission - Poster
Creative WritingWinner - Heather Logan from John Ogilvie High School
Submission - Poem
Runner-up - Jennifer MacNeill from Craigholme School in Glasgow
Submission - Poem and supporting artwork: Lily’s Story
Jennifer’s poem can be viewed opposite.
PerformanceJoint winners:
‘Bullied’, a short film produced by John Ogilvie High School in Hamilton
‘Super Ginger’, a film produced by Duns Youth Theatre in the Scottish Borders
A special commendation was awarded to Taylor High School in Motherwell for a series of 5 short films
‘Bullied’ and ‘Super Ginger’ are now available to view on our YouTube channel:
Bullied: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8erC4y7t5U
Super Ginger: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rkyLCmk0d4
In my class, I am regarded as an object. Like a pencil you would snap in half in a blind rage, or a door you slam to show your raw fury and strength. I am not a she anymore, I’m an it. I am an it you can swear at, I’m an it you can kick and punch, and best of all, I’m an it with a mouth firmly shut, but with eyes that scream the words through monsoons of tears.
It has happened for as long as I can remember, as my apparently “particle sized brain” can’t recall as much as I want it to. My life today basically revolves around when Helen, Courtney and Louise want to use their living punch-bag. They usually confront me during lunch, when I try to hide amongst the repulsive and graffiti-plastered black bins. The vile stench usually makes me feel nauseous, but I have taken to stealing crisp packets and breathing with them over my mouth. Quite recently they discovered my hidden bunker, and I always have a dread feeling in the pit of my stomach each time I eat there.
The last time they caught me, Helen emptied my schoolbag into a wasp inhabited heap of rubbish, while Karen dirtied my uniform by kicking mud at my legs. All the while Courtney was spitting terrible language to her cronies, about it (a.k.a. me). That was not terrible. The worst they have done to me is punch my stomach continually, turn after turn, and at the same time, crying insults about me and my family. The only way I could get them to stop is repeat what they said, and claim it to be true. I sputtered after they hadstopped and after a few seconds spewed up sick over my blazer.
I wake up some nights with their eyes boring into my mind, and it makes me sick and delusional with worry. Sleep does not come naturally anymore, and no matter how comfortable my mattress is, my swollen bruises always ache and scream at me, awaking my senses, and my head. I am almost always covered in a fearful cold sweat, which is a side effect of being bullied. That does not help the sleeping problem.
Their crude faces haunt me. Courtney has a face that resembles a bird, with yellowing, sallow skin. The leader of the group. Louise is darker, with eyelash-less, colourless eyes, that show no emotion. The muscle of the group. Helen has coppery auburn hair, a collapsed and crooked nose, topped off with thick lensed glasses. She is the brains of the group. Each and every time I rest my eyes on them, I feel a burning hate, deep within my heart, urging me to tell them what they truly are. Mean.
I hate the abuse, but the worst thing is, they never use my name. It has always been “it”, or “thing”, never Lily. I wish they would use my name; it would make me feel equal, and wanted, for once.
Life and death seem meaningless, and appear to have the same definition. To me, they both are ways of saying “non-existence”, which is the one word that I can use to sum up my toilsome life. My whole life feels like a stretched out funeral, on going until the final silence, which could be just around the corner.
By Jennifer MacNeill, Craigholme School
Runner-up in the Creative Writing category
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My name is lily...a
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In last year’s report we introduced a drama production that we developed with students from St Margaret Mary’s Secondary School, which was showcased at the respectme conference.
‘Andy’s Story’ tells the story of a boy who is being bullied at school, and helps to develop awareness of bullying behaviour and its consequences from a young person’s perspective. It examines the notion of fear and respect among peer groups and looks at the different choices young people are faced with when it comes to bullying behaviour.
The young people and their drama teacher showed immense dedication, creativity and commitment to the project, from the initial ideas stage through to the development of the final script. The key messages and scenarios developed were so powerful that we have now turned it into an anti-bullying resource that can be used with 12-18 year olds in schools, youth groups and other settings across Scotland.
The performance was filmed and the Andy’s Story DVD was created to generate discussion around fear, respect and bullying behaviour. Supporting materials have also been developed, which include practical exercises and guidance on how the resources can be used with young people.
Since the conference, Andy’s Story has generated a lot of interest and has been performed by the students from St Margaret Mary’s on many occasions.
The group performed at the launch of SAMH’s Get Active campaign to an audience which included SAMH Ambassador and Olympic gold medallist, Sir Chris Hoy.
They took to the stage again in September when Minister for Skills and Lifelong Learning, Keith Brown launched the DVD, and again when Glasgow City Council chose the school to launch its revised anti-bullying policy in November.
A copy of Andy’s Story DVD has been sent to every secondary school in Scotland and the supporting resources can be viewed on the respectme website: http://www.respectme.org.uk//andys_story.html
“Since the two national conferences at which St. Margaret Mary’s
drama group performed Andy’s Story, our journey has continued to be interesting, rewarding, and increasingly challenging.”
Anne Keay, Principle Teacher of Drama, St Margaret Mary’s Secondary School
andY’ssTOrY
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*All statistics refer to the period between April 09 and March 2010 unless
otherwise sated
15887123724713,50815,37913,908
Total number of people trained by respectme to date:
Number of people trained in the last year:
No of people across Scotland who are trained to deliver
respectme training:
Total no of training events held in the last year:
Website total no of people who logged on
to the website in the last year
Publications requests in the last year:
Cyberbullying…Are you switched on?
You can make a difference, A practical guide for parents
and carers
The rights of children and young people are at the heart of everything we do
Our values of respect, equality and inclusion underpin every aspect of our work
We work in partnership to build the capacity of all adults who play a role in the lives of children and young people
We promote a positive, practical and realistic approach to improving the life experiences of children and young people
We will influence behaviour, culture and attitudes towards bullying behaviour
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respectme Principles
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