‘I’m not sure I’d be here if we’d had social media at my school’ AsA thousands of children across WalesW start school this week, new re research has shown many are d dreading the return because of b bullying. Here, Ogmore MP Chris E Elmore speaks candidly
“It just becomes a terrible spiral of unmanageable abuse.”
Few parents realise just how much abuse their children can receive on their mobile phones even when they are safely cocooned in their bedrooms upstairs, the MP warned.
The Diana Award statistics back this up:
More than three-quarters (78%) of young people who have been bullied at school have been made to feel anxious;
More than half (56%) have not been able to sleep at night;
Nearly a fifth (17%) have been made to feel suicidal; and
Two in five young people who have been bullied avoid social media altogether.
The Diana Award runs the leading anti-bullying campaign in the UK and Ireland, giving young people the skills, confidence and training to tackle all forms of bullying as antibullying ambassadors.
To date, The Diana Award has trained over 33,000 anti-bullying ambassadors in 3,800 schools throughout the UK.
At school, Mr Elmore had few friends and praises a number of teachers for intervening and being “an absolute salvation”.
Mr Elmore added: “I did play rugby, but I was more into things like music.
“I loved school, I loved the teachers and I loved learning.
“I was on the school council and was a student governor when that all started.
“I was a nerd, I suppose, and that was pretty true, but I don’t think that justified the bullying.”
To this day, Mr Elmore has no idea why the bullies started to target him, aged just 10.
“I do remember who punched me in the face for the first time and the teacher who dealt with it said it was a fuss over nothing,” he said.
“He thought it was just squabbles between boys, but it started an avalanche of bullying.”
One incident really sticks in his mind, which happened when he was aged around 14.
“The kids took my uniform while I was doing PE and tied it round a urinal and then peed all over my clothes, and that was just the girls,” he recalled.
Mr Elmore thinks schools should be more aware of just how much bullying goes on and they should do more to tackle it on their premises.
He first raised the issue in the House of Commons as part of an impassioned speech about his experiences in the House of Commons last year and is currenty heading a parliamentary group to address bullying through social media, as well as backing the Diana Award campaign.
Alex Holmes, deputy CEO of The Diana Award, said: “Young people spend 11,000 hours of their lives in full education.
“School should be safe and free from harmful bullying behaviour. We’re urging everyone to get behind our campaign by helping us to train Anti-Bullying Ambassadors in every school.
“We know this peer-to-peer approach works and these young ambassadors are already changing behaviours and shaping attitudes by sending a clear message that bullying isn’t acceptable.
“Our vision, with the help of government, schools and the public, is to reach every single one of the 34,000 schools across the UK”.
For anyone suffering at the hands of bullies today, Mr Elmore has one message: “Don’t suffer in silence, just tell someone, whether that be a teacher, friend or parent.
“It gets better when you tell someone.
“Literally suffering in silence doesn’t make it go away and I have found that out to my own cost.”
To kick-off the #Back2School campaign, The Diana Award Anti-Bullying Campaign encouraged the public to join in across social media channels on Monday, September 2, by sharing their old school photo along with their advice for young people who are returning to school and, if they wished, texting a donation to support the training of young AntiBullying Ambassadors in every school.
For advice and support online, visit https://back2school. antibullyingpro.com