Children empowered to eradicate bullying

The Anti-bullying Training Guide was delivered by the Diana Award at an event hosted by Mayville High School in Southsea.

Training officer Lauren Hart said: '˜The idea of today is for children to become anti-bullying ambassadors and to go back to their own schools and make a real difference by putting into practice what they have learnt.'

The concept of empowering students was a big attraction to the other five schools taking part.

Andrew Milford, deputy head of Sixth Form at Portsmouth Grammar School, said: '˜We have brought seven Year 13 students who are going to being using their training to support younger children in their role as peer mentors. The Year 8 students are going to become anti-bullying representatives for their tutor groups.'

Students looked at video case studies and took part in a range of interactive sessions focused on the role of anti-bullying ambassadors. Many of the students involved said they now felt confident about putting their new-found skill set to use.

Year 12 student at Portsmouth High School, Marcy Lea, said: '˜I have seen my friends go through bullying and seen the affects. We are an all girls school and so I want to really focus on combating the conflicts which are linked to girls such as dealing with friendship issues.'

Julia Cowlard, Year 10 student at Mayville, added: '˜We have already decided we are going to set up a lunchtime drop-in session for anyone who is experiencing problems.'

A key focus of the session looked at the rise in prominence of cyber bullying. This is something which George Carrick-Baker, 11, has personally experienced.

'˜I am on my Xbox quite a lot and cyber bullying is something which I have experienced. Hopefully events like today will help to stop people doing it. I want my school to be a place where people can express themselves without upsetting others,' explained George.

Supporting the event was Portsmouth South MP Stephen Morgan. 

'˜It is great to meet all of the young people here today  and I am really interested to hear their views on bullying. As someone who was brought up in Portsmouth I want to help eradicate bullying from all  our schools,' said Mr Morgan.