What is it?
Anti-Bullying Week is an annual UK event held in the third week of November which aims to raise awareness of bullying in schools and elsewhere and to highlight ways of preventing and responding to it. It began in 2002 and has since grown to become a significant event with 80% of school s in the UK taking part reaching over 7.5 million young people. This year it has the theme ‘Make A Noise About Bullying’.
The Anti-Bullying Alliance have explained this year’s theme: “Too often, we are silent when we see bullying take place, silent about the hurt bullying causes, and silent when we hear bullying dismissed as ‘just banter’. It doesn’t have to be this way.
Of course, we won’t like everyone, and we don’t always agree, but we can choose respect and unity. This Anti-Bullying Week let’s come together to have discussions about what bullying means to us, how banter can turn into something more hurtful, and what we can do to stop bullying. Together, we can make a difference and take a stand against bullying.
From the playground to Parliament, and from our phones to our homes, let’s make a noise about bullying.”
Why is it Needed?
Research shows that 30% of children have been bullied in the last year alone, 17% of which have been bullied online. Bullying has a significant impact on a person’s life, and this can last well into adulthood with adults who were bullied as children being more likely to experience a range of mental health issues, earn less money, be unemployed, be obese, not be in a stable relationship, and leave school with no qualifications.
According to Acas, almost 6 in 10 people in the UK have witnessed or suffered bullying in the workplace, but as adults, it can be harder to detect. It might come in the form of constantly criticising someone’s work, spreading malicious rumours about someone constantly putting someone down in meetings, deliberately giving someone a heavier workload than everyone else, excluding someone from team social events, or putting humiliating, offensive or threatening comments or photos on social media.
What can we do?
Odd Socks Day forms part of the Anti-Bullying Week campaign and takes place on the Monday. Fronted by the Anti-Bullying Alliance patron and CBeebies presenter Andy Day and his band, Andy and the Odd Socks, millions of children and adults go to school or work in odd socks to highlight what makes us all unique and help prevent bullying. You can also Make your own noise by showing support on social media; it’s easy to get involved via #AntiBullyingWeek and #MakeANoise on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and Twitter.
