Bullying

Bullying has for many years been acknowledged as a serious problem in schools, (Smith & Brian, 2002). Bullying is defined as aggressive behaviour which is experienced repeatedly over time, bullying involves the systematic abuse of power where the perpetrator intends to cause the victim harm (Nansel et al., 2001; Smith & Brian, 2002). In their study exploring the prevalence of bullying, Smith et al. (2004) found that that approximately 10 – 20% of adolescents had experienced some form of bullying in the 3 to 6 months prior to completing their survey. Further research has also shown that being a victim of bullying can have a serious and sometimes long-term negative impact on psychological well-being (Hawker & Boulton, 2000).

Being bullied at school, home or online might involve:

• verbal bullying e.g. calling you names
• emotional bullying e.g. teasing you, talking about you, leaving you out
• physical bullying e.g. pushing you, hitting you
• cyber-bullying e.g. text message, facebook, email

Tackling bullying is taken seriously in York. In 2011 schools in York have been invited to take part in a survey about bullying involving children and young people. If you feel or know you child is being bullied the first step is to talk to their school.

Other support

We have a page on this website that gives information and advice to children and young people about bullying. As well as talking to an adult at school children and young people can ring Childline on 0800 11 11 and talk to them about anything that has upset them or makes them worry.

You can also go to these websites:

• www.beatbullying.org
• www.childnet-int.org
• www.thinkuknow.co.uk
• www.childline.org.uk
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/switch/advice
• http://www.youth2youth.co.uk
• http://www.lgbyouthyork.org.uk/

Anti-Bullying Week