Anti-Bullying Week 2024

Last week, Blanford Mere joined an estimated 7.5 million children and young people across the UK by taking part in Anti-Bullying week and Odd Socks Day. The theme this year was ‘Choose Respect’; something that the children are already familiar with as it’s one of our three rules and one of our shared values.

Across school, children learnt about different types of bullying, how it impacts people, what they can do if they are aware of bullying happening and what it looks like to ‘choose respect’. In addition, Year 3 children had a visit from Loudmouth productions who carried out some ‘Bully 4 U’ workshops with them. They also learnt about the five ways to mental wellbeing.

Here is what the children had to say about their week:-

Jacob H (RNP): “We are wearing odd socks because we are all different!”

Harvey R (RLK): “We are all unique which means we are different and that's ok.”

1MC

Evan: “I wore odd Christmas socks because we were celebrating Odd Sock Day.”

Louis-James: “I had odd socks because we were celebrating anti-bullying week.”

Marcella: “Make sure to be respectful to everybody in the class.”

Taiya: “Make sure you are being kind and respectful to other children.”

1DJ

Vinnie: “I liked wearing odd socks to remember that everyone is different.”

Eden: “We used STOP to remember that bullying is Several Times On Purpose.”

2BH

Evie: “I think anti-bullying week is important because it tells everyone to look after each other and to be kind to each other”

2TD

Aubree: “It made me think about how to be kind to other children”

3/4JC

Zydaan: “I liked Anti-Bullying week because it was fun and we played bingo. The theme was ‘Choose Respect’ and that is also one of our rules”.

Robyn: “For Anti-Bullying we had people come in and do a show and they asked us questions about what happened.We learnt about the 5 ways to wellbeing and when I asked what ‘Give’ meant, they told me it wasn’t about giving something expensive but it was about being kind and giving people manners.”

3/4MC

Lilly: “I liked the fun activities we did in the classroom”.

Willow: “I loved the videos. They really helped me understand more.”

Ethan: “It’s hard to choose my favourite bit because we did such a lot!”

3/4CW

Kayla: “I have really enjoyed the Anti-Bullying songs we've listened to.”

Georgia: “We've learnt what types of bullying there are and to stop bullying too.”

Harry: “I learnt ways to be respectful to adults and children.”

Abel: “We learnt ways to stop using unkind words, hands and feet and I liked playing Bingo.”

Francesca: “We learnt what to do when we see someone bullying someone else and to stop cyber bullying.”

Heather: “I enjoyed our Bully4U workshop with different types of bullying being acted out and the costume changes to learn how to spot it and what to do to stop it.”

Lilah: “I learnt the Ways to Well Being and to tell a trusted adult to sort it out.”

5/6B

George: “I enjoyed learning about how anti-bullying can make a positive difference. We learnt about choosing respect and how to be respectful to others.”

Scarlett: “I liked the song by Andy from CBBC which told us about how everyone is different - it was really funny at the end when a young girl had a deep voice!”

5/6O

Mya: "We wear odd socks to celebrate everyone's differences. We are special in our own way and we are all different."

Luca: "It is good to choose respect because people who are playing in a game need to respect everyone that is playing because it makes it more fun to play for everyone. When I'm playing football for my club, I need to respect the decisions that the referees and managers make even if I don't agree with them."

5/6R

Olivia: "I liked odd socks day because I think it lets us be ourselves. I enjoyed learning about respect in PSHE."

Jacob: "I enjoyed learning what bullying is and showing we are all different."