More support announced for schools to tackle bullying

Thousands of schools in England are set to benefit from further support and training to help pupils combat bullying, learn to value each other’s differences, and improve wellbeing for staff.

As Anti-Bullying Week gets underway, the Department for Education has today (Tuesday 16 November) confirmed funding for five leading organisations, worth over £1m in total, to support schools and colleges in championing tolerance and respect as part of their responsibility to tackle all forms bullying.

Over £3.5 million has already been provided to charities and organisations to prevent bullying, with the latest funding boost will go towards projects and programmes that tackle bullying including LGBT, special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), and victims of hate-related bullying.

This will build on the Government’s new relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) curriculum, which has been designed to reflect a diverse range of views and backgrounds, whilst fostering respect for others and the understanding of healthy relationships. Subjects include teaching about bullying, healthy friendships, equality and the risks of stereotyping.

A new support scheme for school leaders is also being launched today, backed by £760,000 to promote good wellbeing across pupils, teachers and school and college staff. The scheme will provide one-to-one counselling and peer support to around 2,000 school leaders, helping those at deputy head level and above with their mental wellbeing.

 Children and Families Minister Will Quince said:

“Bullying in any form is unacceptable and can have a devastating effect on children, young people and their families. It is so important that we all take a stand against bullying so we can help create safe and inclusive places for young people both in schools and online.

“It’s crucial that our children and young people know how to treat one another with respect and celebrate one another’s differences. That’s why we are supporting organisations leading in the way with providing schools with specialist support and training for thousands of teachers to help respond to any concerns and to make sure bullying never prevents any young person from fulfilling their potential.”

An updated Education Staff Wellbeing Charter will also be published this week, which sets out commitments from the government, Ofsted, education unions and charities, to promote and protect the mental health of the education workforce. Through the charter, the department pledges to work with the sector to drive down unnecessary workload, improve access to wellbeing resources, and champion flexible working, among a range of actions to support staff wellbeing. The department is now encouraging all state funded schools and colleges to sign up to the charter to create a united approach to supporting staff.

The Government’s Online Safety Bill will also deliver a ground-breaking new system of accountability which will require internet companies to protect its users from online abuse, and will make it easier to report harmful activity. Online safety should also be included in a school’s child protection policy and the Department for Education’s Teaching Online Safety in Schools guidance aims to support schools in teaching pupils how to stay safe online within new and existing school subjects, such as RSHE, Citizenship and Computing.

Today’s announcement comes ahead of the UK government hosting its first global LGBT conference in June 2022. As announced by the Government earlier this year, the theme of the event will be ‘Safe to be me’, with an aim to make progress on legislative reforms against violence and discrimination, and protect and promote the equal rights of LGBT people from around the world. The global event will bring together elected officials, policy makers, and the international LGBT community to protect and promote the rights of LGBT people around the world.

Minister for Equalities, Mike Freer, said:

“Bullying, especially when it targets an innate characteristic like being LGBT, is particularly damaging and distressing to children. It is vital we stamp it out and equip our brilliant teachers to do so effectively.

“Every child has the right to be themselves and thrive at school. I look forward to meeting some of these organisations to hear more about their work.”

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Notes to editors:

• Organisations that will receive grants from the Department are:  
• • National Children’s Bureau (Anti-Bullying Alliance). ‘United Against All Bullying’ will focus on reducing bullying of those most at risk: children and young people with SEND, children and young people who experience racist and faith-targeted bullying, sexual bullying, homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying, looked-after children, young carers and those on free school meals.  
  • Diversity Role Models. This will deliver a package of interventions to schools to ensure staff have the knowledge and skills to tackle and prevent bullying and create inclusive school cultures, anchored in training about diversity and the protected characteristics, featuring personal lived experience stories to embed empathy. 
  • Equaliteach. This intensive, evidence-based, anti-bullying programme will be delivered to at least 80 schools per year. Each school receives a dedicated EqualiTeach Representative who will work with them on policies, consult with the school community, review existing practice, and develop and implement a bespoke action plan. Each school will also receive a series of online and in-person staff training, networking opportunities with other schools and an Agents for Change event for pupils.
  • Anne Frank Trust. ‘Different But The Same’, an intensive anti-bullying support 3-year project, will provide training and support for nearly 80,000 young people, their teachers and schools to tackle bullying focused on protected characteristics including LGBT+, SEND, race, religion/belief or sexual/sexist-based bullying.
  • The Diana Award. This project will empower young people with the skills, tools, confidence and knowledge needed to significantly transform school culture and provide support to peers, with the aim of reducing prevalence of bullying with particular focus on protected characteristics and associated bullying, and increased school confidence and ability in responding to incidents of bullying effectively. 
• Funding for the five anti-bullying grants will be available from August 2021 to March 2022, but the Department will fund these organisations for a further 2 years beyond March 2022, dependent on successful delivery of agreed outcomes in year one and the continuation of government funding.
• Details of speakers and delegates for the LGBT conference will be confirmed in due course.
• Education Support will deliver the new mental health support scheme for school leaders and will run over 18 months until March 2023. The scheme builds on a pilot involving over 350 school leaders which was launched in response to the challenges brought about by the pandemic. Eligible school leaders can access the programme from today through the Education Support website and helpline.
• The Department’s Preventing and Tackling Bullying guidance provides further advice for schools on preventing and responding to bullying, including advice for head teachers and school staff on cyberbullying.