The challenge of empowering children to stay safe online has never been greater. With the explosion of social networking and increasingly
advanced technologies in handheld devices and phones, how can you keep one step ahead to protect children and young people?
Capita’s established Child Protection in the Digital Environment Conference covers the latest research and national policy driving this agenda. With input from the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) and the Department for Education, this conference focuses on
the key themes including:
• Effectively engaging and upskilling parents to support safe online practices at home
• Tackling cyberbullying and harassment of young people, teachers and parents
• Managing the benefits and risks of social networking
• Tailoring support services to protect the most vulnerable
• Adopting a multi agency approach to identifying, monitoring and reporting risks and safeguarding concerns.

For more information:

http://www.capitaconferences.co.uk/public-sector-conferences

http://www.yhgfl.net/eSafeguarding

For further information why not contact a member of the YHGfL eSafeguarding Team on contact(at)yhgfl.net to have a free eSafeguarding consultation.

Beatbullying is calling for people around the world to support The Big March 2012, which will take place on January 31st 2012: from Manchester to Mumbai, from Naples to New Orleans, from Jerusalem to Johannesburg, and from Budapest to Brasilia.

Predicted to last up to two days, the march will culminate with the delivery of a petition to the United Nations Building in New York; asking the United Nations to explicitly enshrine ‘bullying’ in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). This will help to protect children all over the world from the pain and distress of bullying and harassment. If successful, it will be the first time that the Convention has been updated in over 10 years.

Governments and world leaders who have ratified the Convention are bound to it by international law and are therefore obliged to introduce and implement measures and legislation which serve to protect children. The addition of ‘bullying’ to the UNCRC will give weight and legitimacy to the demands of children, families, schools, and communities who want to build a world where bullying is unacceptable.

The Big March 2012, builds on the success of 2010′s award-winning campaign that saw a million parents, teachers, young people, celebrities and MPs sign up to support the UK campaign. Beatbullying delivered a petition to a virtual 10 Downing Street, asking for the Government to protect children and young people from all forms of bullying and harassment. It resulted in an offline deputation with Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, where Beatbullying delivered its recommendations.

With over 135,000 supporters already signed up to The Big March 2012, including celebrities as diverse as Twiggy, Sir Michael Parkinson, Jedward, top girl band The Saturdays as well as Beatbullying ambassadors Pixie Lott and Aston Merrygold, Beatbullying anticipates over two million avatars, all representing actual protesters, taking the world wide web by storm by the time the march commences in January.

UK brands and charities such as Nominet Trust, Barry M, Robinson Fruit Shoot, Orange and Girlguiding UK have already been joined by global organisations, including Facebook, Universal Music, Stardoll and Habbo, with Beatbullying anticipating the support of numerous more international brands, business and third sector groups to allow The Big March 2012 to make a stand on their websites next year.

With more corporate, charity and celebrity partners set to be announced, organisations interested in partnering with The Big March 2012, can get involved by contacting the charity directly on 0208 771 3377/ hello(at)beatbullying.org, and those who want to create their own avatar to join the march on the 31st January 2012, can sign up at www.beatbullying.org/bigmarch

Why not sign up your school as part of Anti-bullying week?

The Autumn term 2011 edition of ShareIT is now available for download from the YHGfL website. Inside you can read about innovative use of ICT in our region’s schools, YHGfL conferences and online events, eSafeguarding and new online resources.

Click HERE for the YHGfL website

You can also download the .pdf  directly to your smart phone by scanning the QR code below:

Download a free Qr code reader from the apps store or market place

This year’s theme ‘Stop and think – words can hurt’ aims to get everyone involved in preventing verbal bullying. ABA wants to challenge name-calling and the casual use of derogatory language in our schools and communities, which can create an environment in which bullying can flourish.

ABA which runs Anti-Bullying Week, is partnering with Stand Tall: A Rock Musical, which encourages audiences to look at bullying in a different light, to give all primary and secondary schools in England the chance to take part in the Anti-Bullying Week 2011 schools competition.

Supported by best selling author Philip Pullman, the competition is quick and easy to do. Schools vote for a song from the show that they think best gets across an anti-bullying message. Pullman says, ‘A great idea, a wonderful and terrific show…A project to counter bullying with music is a winner.’

Competition guidelines for school staff

The competition is open to all primary and secondary schools in England, and involves the following simple steps:

• Teachers/ staff download the powerpoint presentation from www.anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk/
• to support an assembly or a lesson that introduces the theme of Anti-Bullying week 2011 and encourages students to think about and discuss bullying.  The presentation includes teachers’ notes to guide the general discussion about bullying, and gives enough flexibility to adjust for primary or secondary age students.
• The presentation introduces 3 songs from Stand Tall: A Rock Musical, which can be listened to using the links below. As a school or a class, you vote on which song you think is best at getting across a strong anti-bullying message.
• There is a short description of each song within the presentation, and you can download the full lyrics.
• Fill in the short online entry form below to win the chance of Stand Tall: a Rock Musical visiting your school to work with students to record the winning track. The deadline for entry is 5pm on Friday 29^th July 2011. The winning school will be notified at the beginning of the autumn term.

For further information visit

www.anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk

Anti-Bullying Week takes place between 15-19 November this year and the focus is ‘Taking Action Together’. Schools are being asked to promote the issue of people ‘turning a blind eye’ to bullying and are going to ask everyone in the school environment to sign up to a pledge to eradicate it.

All the major anti-bullying organisations are offering resources to support the week including BeatBullying who are organising an online march across the internet. Individuals are being encouraged to create an avatar which will join thousands of others by demonstratingover the internet and submitting a petition to 10 Downing Street.

For further information and resources click HERE

During November last year, Calderdale LA hosted two cyberbullying roadshows to raise awareness about the prevalence and impact of cyberbullying and other forms of bullying which impact on the welfare of children and young people. The roadshows took place at Halifax Town Hall on 17 November and Calder High School at the Ted Hughes Theatre on 19 November. Children, young people, parents, carers and professionals who work with children and young people were invited to come along to learn more about staying safe online and to share their experiences or concerns. They were able to access good practice case studies (including how different agencies are working together to tackle all forms of bullying) and fi nd out what information and support is available.

As part of Safer Internet Day 2009, Cleeve Primary School in Hull created a fantastic film for their pupils to raise awareness of cyberbullying and what you should do if you are or know of someone who is being cyberbullied. The film tells the story of a bystander who notices a girl in her school being both physically bullied and cyberbullied. She makes the decision to tell a teacher what is happening and we see the consequences of her actions. The film includes advice for pupils and provides many opportunities for discussion.

The school has kindly given permission to YHGfL to put the video onto our website so that other schools in the region can benefifit from the messages portrayed in the film.
To check out the video and the accompanying teacher notes go to the YHGfL website The teacher notes were created by Nicola Salmon and trialled by pupils and staff at Riccall Primary School, North Yorkshire.
We hope that schools found this a useful resource during Anti-Bullying Week, but don’t forget this resource can be used to promote anti-bullying in school at any time. Schools will also fi nd it a useful resource to use with pupils and parents during Safer Internet Day 2010 (9 February).

We would just like to say a big thank you to Cleeve Primary School, Hull for making the video and we are delighted that they have shared their work on the YHGfL website for other schools to use.

Watch on line HERE

You can download the video HERE (avi format) or HERE (quicktime format)

Megan’s family has fully endorsed the campaign with the hope that “no other family suffers the loss we have”. The advert, refused permission to air on TV by Clearcast (formerly the BACC), depicts a teenage girl sewing her mouth closed, symbolising the way victims feel silenced by bullies. It is this imagery which Clearcast deemed too brutal an image for young audiences. However, the disturbing imagery is designed to drive awareness of the devastating effects bullying can have.

However, the ad, produced by award winning agency M&C Saatchi, can be seen online debuting on YouTube’s homepage – as part of a major charity partnership tie-in.  

The advert will also be screened in cinemas in films rated 12A. Stills from the ad will be used on billboards in cities nationwide alongside a UK schools advertising programme. It encourages children to seek help with the tagline ‘You can speak out now’.

The advertising campaign aims to illustrate the way bullying affects young people’s state of mind as data gathered by Beatbullying on its peer mentoring website cybermentors.org.uk, found that 68% of discussions between under 18s visiting the site featured conversations discussing mental health issues including children revealing they were depressed, felt ‘low’, were unable to cope and asking for counselling.

A disturbing 7% of comments were from children appealing for help because they were self harming. Thankfully, 97% of bullied children that use cybermentors.org.uk find the site helpful.

Find out more at the Beatbullying website www.beatbullying.org and view the campaign at their YouTube channel www.youtube.com/beatbullying 

Please bear in mind that not all schools will be able to access the YouTube website.

ABA (Anti-Bullying Alliance) have released their schools pack for this year’s Anti-Bullying Week, with a focus on cyberbullying. These packs will be sent out to all schools. If you’d like to download copies for yourself you can do so from the ABA website http://www.anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk

One point I have been made aware of: Activity 7 in the ’10 Quick Ideas for Teachers’ refers to an activity suitable for KS2 and above where pupils are encouraged to investigate ways they can address cyberbullying that might happen on some of their favourite sites, such as social networking sites. It might be worth bearing in mind that many of these sites have age limits for signing up, and whilst there will be significant numbers of pupils using these already in primary school, it is worth reinforcing safety messages regarding age limits on sites, why there are there and what the consequences of pretending to be older than you are might be.

As you know we will be launching a cyberbullying section on our website at the start of October to help schools prepare. Also if you’d like us to help with any celebrations that may be going on in your authority do let us know and  we will try our best to!