The Anti-bullying Ambassadors Programme, run by Princess Diana Award and Nationwide Building Society, has already trained more than 50,000 young people across primary and secondary schools across the UK to lead on anti-bullying campaigns in their schools.
The programme involves an anti-bullying training day, which is a half-day session delivered by an expert, during which students will develop the skills and knowledge they need to become ambassadors.
Following on from the session, the school will receive 12 months access to further support from the Diana Award’s anti-bullying team, which includes free resources, videos, and one-to-one support to help develop schools' campaigns.
Sammy, a 15-year old anti-bullying ambassador,said: “I was bullied verbally by someone making nasty and hateful comments towards me almost every day. My mental health was affected really badly, and I became very isolated and upset.”
He added that after speaking to his parents and school, the situation was resolved and he “quickly realised that the bullying that I had been through was not my fault and realised the impact that it has on young people".
"This inspired me to become an anti-bullying ambassador, it’s an incredibly rewarding role, and one of the best things I have done," Sammy said.
Anti-bullying ambassador Tamar, also aged 15, experienced racial bullying, as well as teasing for having free school meals.
She said: “Having older people stick up for me made me feel so incredible and I want to be that person for others.
“I’m not ashamed of the fact that I am on free school meals or the melanin in my skin; I’m proud to be where I am from and who I am and that’s something that I won’t let anyone take away from me.”
Nationwide’s research found that eight in 10 children have experienced bullying, with the majority of respondents saying it happened on school grounds.
The research also found that bullying negatively impacted parents, with more than half of parents saying they were concerned about their child being bullied, because of the impact it may have on them in later life.
The Diana Award and Nationwide Building Society have also launched a new pen pal campaign to mark Anti-Bullying Week (14-18 November), which is co-ordinated by the Anti-Bullying Alliance, and encourages campaigners, teachers and young people to stand against bullying in all forms.
The pen pal campaign will provide more than 120,000 children from 300 schools with their own "positive post box", which they will use to exchange kind letters containing positive messages with other children.
The campaign will be supported by a number of celebrity ambassadors, including CBBC presenter Lee Hinchcliffe, and actor and musician Olive Gray, who was a keynote speaker at the launch of the parliamentary group for ADHD and has led anti-bullying workshops for The Diana Award.
It's officially #AntiBullyingWeek 🥳
— Anti-Bullying Alliance #AntiBullyingWeek (@ABAonline) November 14, 2022
Let's have a Hashtag party to celebrate and make sure Anti-Bullying Week is trending across the UK and beyond 🤩
Show your support by using all of our hashtags in your posts all day today:#AntiBullyingWeek#OddSocksDay#ReachOut pic.twitter.com/4tLp5qTxHL
Meanwhile, the Anti-Bullying Alliance’s Odd Socks Day campaign encouraged people to wear odd socks for a day on 14 November to raise awareness about bullying and celebrate people’s unique differences.
Many teachers, students, campaigners and MPs have participated using the #OddSocksDay hashtag, including recently appointed minister for children, families and wellbeing Claire Coutinho.
Proud to be showing off my mismatching hosiery for #OddSocksDay today, to kick off #AntiBullyingWeek.
— Claire Coutinho MP (@ClaireCoutinho) November 14, 2022
The wonderful thing about us is that we are all different, and this week is all about raising awareness of how we can embrace and celebrate those differences. pic.twitter.com/FjridWLLOM
