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Anti-Bullying Week 2009

November 16th-20th is Anti-Bullying Week 2009: this year’s theme is cyberbullying. Mozilla is a proud partner of BeatBullying’s Cybermentors programme which combats cyberbullying throughout the UK.

November 16th-20th is Anti-Bullying Week 2009: this year’s theme is cyberbullying. Mozilla is a proud partner of BeatBullying’s Cybermentors programme which combats cyberbullying throughout the UK.

Anti-Bullying Week offers schools an important opportunity to re-energise bullying prevention strategies, and communicate with children and teenagers effectively about the problem. This year special attention is being be paid to the growing trend of cyber bullying and ways to tackle it. Cyberbullying affects 1 in 3 young people between the ages of 11-16. For those children that experience persistent cyberbullying, the effects can be devastating, as in the case of Sam Leeson who hanged himself after being bullied on a social networking site.

The charity Beatbullying is raising awareness of cyberbullying through the sale of their blue bands that carry the strapline *R U Cyber Safe* and are being sported by celebrities such as Aston from JLS and N-Dubz. Both Aston and N-Dubz have putting their support behind Beatbullying’s award-winning CyberMentors programme, a social networking site for peer mentors where kids help other kids with cyberbullying and counsellors are on hand to help too.

Beatbullying has a range of fantastic lesson plans, assembly packs, and resources for teachers, all available to download for free from the Anti-Bullying Week site. The lesson plans address the issue of cyberbullying, have safety tips for tackling it and encourages children to support each other and behave responsibly online. They are aimed at Key Stage 2 and 3 pupils, but can be adapted to suit a range of ages, and cover key areas of the curriculum, including Citizenship and PSHE, and Art and Design. They have been designed to be fun and interactive, using a variety of approaches and resources to engage both students and teachers with the issue. These resources can also be used in conjunction with the sticker packs Beatbullying are offering for sale this year.

For more information, please visit www.antibullyingweek.org

For immediate help and support with cyberbullying, visit http://cybermentors.org.uk