FOR MAINSTREAM SCHOOLS

This was a new venture for Children's World - our first tour of mainstream Secondary Schools. The aim was to expose all the issues that bullying entails in a different and entertaining way. We knew from the outset that we couldn't "solve "the problems of bullying, but we felt that the more the issue was raised and discussed, the more the schools would be able to find ways of dealing with their individual issues. The Tour visited 5 mainstream Secondary Schools in Somerset, working with their Year 7 children. Each morning we worked with one class of approximately 30 children in 2 x 75 minute sessions, creating characters of "bullies" and "victims" and assisting the children in creating a movement piece. In the afternoon all the Year 7 children joined us for a performance of a "televised" Chat Show called "Some People Say" on the subject of Bullying. The show included the morning class's performance of their movement piece "The Bullies and the Victim" and also used the characters created by the morning group as panellists in the show. Using this as a starting point, the show went on to host a debate with the audience, their staff and the panellists. At the end of the afternoon session each pupil was given a Childline leaflet on how to deal with bullying, and individual questionnaires were left to be filled in anonymously, which schools then used to compile information on how children had dealt with bullying situations and to see whether the staff and children could work together to make improvements. The Tour revealed some very frank and telling stories about bullying from children and staff. This unusual way of dealing with the subject as a "Chat Show" seemed to allow the children and staff to speak freely about their experiences. All the schools felt that their students had gained considerably from the day and that the whole subject of Bullying had been opened up in an exciting and extremely positive way.

"Thank you for the excellent visit to our school..As Head of Year, I certainly feel that I will refer back to the sessions when dealing with bullying incidents in the future" Head of Year 7, Ansford Community School

phone: 01458-832925 and phone/fax: 01458-834484

email: arabellachurchill@childrensworld.demon.co.uk

webpage: www.childrensworld.demon.co.uk