What to do

If you are being bullied, or know a friend who is being bullied, you can find help and advice below:

Bullying includes

* People calling you names

* Making things up to get you into trouble

* Hitting, pinching, biting, pushing and shoving

* Taking things away from you

* Damaging your belongings

* Stealing your money

* Taking your friends away from you

* Spreading rumours

* Threats and intimidation

* Making silent or abusive phone calls

* Sending you offensive phone texts

* Posting insulting messages on the internet or by IM

* Bullies can also frighten you so that you don’t want to go to school, so that you pretend to be ill to avoid them.

If you are being bullied, tell a friend, tell a teacher tell your parents or someone in your family like a grandparent, aunt, uncle or cousin. Don’t try to fight or box the bullies as you may get into trouble with the school.

Prove it! Make a “Bullying Diary” and show the teacher and your parents what happened and when.

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Mobile Phones:

If you have a mobile phone, be careful who you give your number to. If you receive threatening or abusive phone calls or texts then tell your parents. It is a criminal offence to send offensive or threatening phone messages and if it continues, it can also amount to harassment. If you are receiving threatening or malicious messages by SMS then you can go to the police with all of the messages you have received. If you have the ability to record calls on your handset  then take the recording too. They will then work with the networks to stop the problem you are having.

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Stopping receiving SMS

If you are receiving SMS that you don’t want, you can easily stop receiving SMS on your handset for a while. Just turning off incoming SMS for a couple of days might stop the person who is texting you, as they may think that you have changed phone numbers. All you have to do to turn off incoming messages is type the code *35*1111*15# into your handset. A couple of days later type the code #35*1111*15# to turn messages back on, and hopefully the person will have gone away. Note that this will stop all incoming text messages, it is not possible to block just one number.

If the harassment is more extreme, for example you are getting threatening or malicious phone calls you can change your telephone number. Networks such as Orange will let you change without cost to a new number, and then will place your old number in quarantine for 6 months so that you can change back when the problem has been resolved if you wish. This service may not be available to all pre-pay customers.

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Internet:

Be careful when you on line. A number of message boards have been used by bullies and anti Gypsy bullies. Dont give out your phone number or instant messaging name- you dont know who they are, and could be lying about their age. NEVER meet someone you have made friends with over the internet by yourself – take your parents and stay safe.

Cyberbullying is on the increase for all young people.

DfE data from 2003 suggested that even then, approximately 16 children a year in the UK committed suicide due to cyber-bullying. And over two thirds of teenagers surveyed admitted that they had, at some point, been the victims of internet abuse, such as:

• Hate messages, where an aggressor leaves a plain threat or insult
• Flaming; when a discussion on a forum or website turns nasty, quickly
• Identity theft: setting up a social network page for someone without their consent, then posting false opinions under that alias- usually designed to inflame opinion against them, or to instigate trouble between peers
• False allegations: claiming, for example, on an anti-racism website, that Person X is a racist, then posting personal details
• Releasing private information about that person, to encourage further privacy invasion

From “Cyberbullying – some practical advice for teachers”. Read more for further advice

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!Happy Slapping!

Happy slapping is a phyiscal attack, usually a hit/slap on the head, that is videoed/photoed on a camera phone. The pictures maybe put on the internet or sent to people using mobile phones. Anyone attacked in a happy slap assault should tell their parents who should make a complaint to the police. Happy Slapping is illegal: It is assault, harassment, and if the pictures are shown around and uploaded to the internet and it may also be against telecommunications law.

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Anti-bullying Charter

The schools’ anti-bullying Charter for Action was launched by Ivan Lewis in November 2003.

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For Help and Advice:

Telephone:

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Websites

- Check out the Anti-Bullying Network: www.antibullying.net in Scotland. There is a Fairground Girl on the website called Amy. See her story: http://www.antibullying.net/ypamy.htm

The website believes that children and young people have the right to live, to play and to learn in environments with a non-bullying ethos.

- www.anti-bullyingalliance.org

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- Scotland:

AN UPDATED RESPONSE TO THE EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES COMMITTEE INQUIRY INTO GYPSY TRAVELLERS AND PUBLIC SERVICES 2001, Scotland, June 2004

Recommendation 20

-Monitoring of anti-bullying strategies, use of the anti-bullying network and Childline, should include Gypsy Travellers as a separate ethnic group. Practical guidance on good practice and training to support schools and teachers should include specific reference to issues relating to Gypsy Traveller children.

The Guidance issued to local authorities and schools addresses the issues of racism and bullying. The Scottish Executive funds the Anti-Bullying Network and the Scottish Schools Ethos Network.