Dame Elizabeth Cadbury has been expanding its antibullying team this academic year. We are proud to have ambassadors from year 7 through to year 10.
Why do we work alongside the Diana Award?
The Diana Award engages young people, parents and teachers to change the attitudes, behaviour and culture of bullying by building skills and confidence to address different situations, both online and offline.
Our antibullying team:
How does a pupil become an Anti-bullying Ambassador?
The application process begins in September. Pupils have to write a cover letter stating why they want to become an Antibullying Ambassador; detailing the qualities that possess in order to make an effective anti-bullying ambassador. It is always fantastic to see the number of applicants we get and those that want to make a difference in our community.
It has been another busy term for the anti-bullying team. We have new year 7 pupils actively engaged in the programme and working alongside our more experienced Anti-bullying Ambassadors. The antibullying team meets at least once every three weeks and more often if there is a themed week in the calendar so that we can plan events as a team. The team are encouraged to speak to each other around school, when issues arise, and to share their ideas and initiatives. School council representatives will also liaise with Antibullying Ambassadors to raise any issues at their weekly meetings. Anti-bullying ambassadors can be recognised by the purple badge that they wear on their blazers. Ambassadors will bring up issues raised then we will respond with a “You said “We did” attitude.
News from this term
The Anti-bullying team pulled together for world mental health week, which saw pupils take part in different activities centred around improving mental health and well-being. During this week, themed assemblies were delivered along with PSHE and other form time activities.
Mental health drop in sessions were hosted at break time in order to facilitate well-being conversations between pupils and people in school who can support them such as student social workers and our ambassadors. There were also poetry competitions in English as well as a poster competition where they were displayed on the TV screens around school to celebrate pupils’ efforts.
All form groups have been actively involved in our DEC antibullying pledge; a personalised version of which has been developed by each form and can be seen displayed on form notice boards.
Ten of our Antibullying Ambassadors will also be attending a training day in May run by the Diana Award. This training will focus on LGBTQ+ and inclusion. Updates and impacts of this training will be updated in the next newsletter, on Twitter and also our website.
Working towards our DEC Diana Award Badges
Next term, we will continue our work towards the accredited Diana award badges. See the link below for guidance on how you can get involved and generate ideas from home. We encourage all pupils to have a get involved.
Dame Elizabeth Cadbury have done extensive work towards their ‘Respect’ badge and will achieve this by the end of the summer term. We are also really proud to be working towards the ‘Big Award’ which recognises the work that is done in support of antibullying in schools.
Some of the ‘Respect’ areas that we have worked towards include:
- Whole school assemblies on diversity and inclusion
- Anti-bullying training for LGBTQ+ ambassadors in inclusivity
- Support group for pupils to work alongside with and voice any concerns they have surrounding inclusion
- Speakers from our DEC house charities have been invited into assemblies to talk to pupils about what they do
- Equal rights and inclusion display boards around school
- One of our school values is respect, therefore pupils who show respect are recognised for this and rewarded
Reminder
If you are concerned about bullying from another child in school please make us aware of the problems so that we can deal with it effectively. Pupils can report to a Head of House, any staff member they feel comfortable talking to or using the anti-bullying referral forms that can be found next to the anti-bullying notice boards and pupils can place these in the red-letter box. We are a telling school, and if we know about situations, we will deal with them quickly and effectively.
Finally!
Below are some helpful links for parents and pupils who would like more advice on tackling or dealing with bullying. https://www.nspcc.org.uk/what-is-child-abuse/types-of-abuse/bullying-and-cyberbullying/
