November 2023 Parenta magazine

Anti-Bullying Week
❤ Emotional – isolating others,
tormenting, hiding books, threatening
gestures, ridicule, humiliation,
intimidating, excluding, manipulation
and coercion
❤ Sexual – unwanted physical contact,
inappropriate touching, abusive
comments, homophobic abuse,
exposure to inappropriate films
❤ Online/cyber – posting on social
media, sharing photos, sending nasty
text messages, social exclusion
❤ Indirect - can include the exploitation
of individuals
It is also important to remember that
sometimes, bullying behaviours can be
a communication from a child to let you
know that something else is wrong with
them, so you must always have your
safeguarding hat on and consider that a
child’s poor behaviour might be a warning
sign that there are other things amiss in
their life.
Sometimes it can be difficult to get the
balance right between informing students
about bullying and keeping things
age-appropriate, especially for younger
children, so we’ve come up with some
ideas for each day to help you mark Anti-
Bullying Week this year in ways that are
appropriate and positive for pre-school
children.
Tuesday 14th – Kindness
is key
Use today to explain to children about
the value of kindness. You can tell stories
about people being kind and how that
helps everyone. You can also remind the
children that people who are being kind
to one another do not call people nasty
names. There are several stories you
can use and a good list of books can be
found on the “booksfortopics” website
(booksfortopics.com/booklists/topics/
pshe-emotional-literacy-citizenship/antibullying/).
Wednesday 15th – Be a
good friend
Use today to remind children about how to
be a good friend and how good it feels to
have friends you can rely on. Being a good
friend means showing an interest in other
people, sharing equipment, and taking
turns nicely, as well as playing kindly with
others and listening to other people’s
ideas. It also means looking out for your
friend in times of trouble. Read stories, and
perhaps do some drama about how you
could help people if they were upset or
having a problem.
Thursday 16th – Make a
noise!
Remember that there are many resources
on the ABA website and others such as
Twinkl to help you celebrate Anti-Bullying
Week. Let us know what your setting is
doing by emailing your pictures and stories
to hello@parenta.com. If you or your child
are troubled by bullying call the National
Bullying Helpline on 0845 22 55 787.
Resources and information
❤ anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk/antibullying-week-2023-make-noiseabout-bullying
❤ booksfortopics.com/booklists/topics/
pshe-emotional-literacy-citizenship/
anti-bullying
❤ twinkl.co.uk/resource/t-p-76-eyfsanti-bullying-week-2017-resourcepack
❤ bbc.co.uk/programmes/
articles/5w7nscs7JM5r7GPvTBjGlDX/
anti-bullying-week-resources
Get those odd socks ready – Anti-Bullying
Week 2023 is here!
Every year, the Anti-Bullying Alliance (ABA)
organises Anti-Bullying Week across the
UK and thousands of school children and
younger pre-schoolers join with teachers
and other adults to call out bullying
behaviour in a bid to stop it. This year, the
week runs from Monday 13th to Friday
17th November and the theme is “Make A
Noise About Bullying”.
The ABA and its partners have been
researching bullying and promoting
measures to prevent it for over 30 years
and have come up with the following
definition for bullying:
“The repetitive, intentional hurting of one
person or group by another person or
group, where the relationship involves
an imbalance of power. Bullying can be
physical, verbal or psychological. It can
happen face-to-face or online.”
One thing to remember about bullying
is that bullying behaviours can start in
children as young as 3, so it is never too
early to remind them about the positive
things they can do to keep themselves
and others safe. Children in their early
years are still learning how to manage
relationships, how to share and how to
appreciate each other, so there are times
when conflicts can occur. To be classed
as bullying, however, there are four key
behaviours to look out for. Bullying is:
❤ Intentional
❤ Hurtful
❤ Repetitive
❤ Involves an imbalance of power (age/
strength/numbers etc.)
A child who snatches a toy from another
child on a one-off occasion would not
be classed as bullying but would still
need some intervention to explain that
snatching things from others is not
acceptable behaviour. However, if the child
encouraged their friends to repeatedly
go up to another, singled-out child every
day, and took things from them regularly,
then this could be classed as bullying
behaviour. It is intentional, hurtful, and
repetitive and there is a power imbalance
because several children are picking on
one child. However, be careful not to label
any child as a “bully”. Remember that we
want to address the bullying behaviour
not directly criticise who a child is, because
if children are labelled as “bullies” or
“naughty” early on, then it can hurt their
self-esteem and progress.
Bullying behaviours can be varied, but
include:
❤ Physical – pushing, poking, kicking,
hitting, biting, pinching
❤ Verbal – name calling, sarcasm,
spreading rumours, threats, teasing,
belittling
Monday 13th – Odd Socks
Day
Each year, Anti-Bullying Week kicks off with
a bang with ‘Odds Socks Day’, when the
nation is encouraged to put their best foot
forward (clad in an odd sock) to launch the
week. How about choosing another way
to celebrate and extend the day by asking
children and staff to bring in a spare, odd
sock and sew or link them together to
create one big chain-like bunting?
You could hang them on a washing line
outside to mark the start of the week for
all to see or create a hanging mobile of
odd socks inside your setting. Explain that
we all have ‘odd socks’ and that they are
all different, but together, they make up
a colourful and attractive display. Explain
that this is like life, everyone is different but
together, we make life interesting, and we
all are important and to be valued.
This year’s theme is “Make a Noise About
Bullying” so why not do some creative
music-making to explain to the children
that bullying is never OK and that if we
all ‘make a noise’ about it, then it will
be easier for adults to help put an end
to it. You could make and create some
percussion instruments and use them to
explain, that making a noise can alert
people if something is wrong. You could
sing songs such as “London’s Burning” or
songs which talk about asking for help if
you need it.
Friday 17th – Celebrate
togetherness
Today is all about celebrating together and
sharing a fun time. You could organise
an event or have a party to celebrate
togetherness and friendship. Why not use
your odd socks to make a glove puppet
and put on a show?
Scan here for
more references
& information:
26 November 2023 | parenta.com
parenta.com | November 2023 27