Anti-Bullying Week 2026

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• Lower Secondary (Key Stage 3)
• Upper Secondary (Key Stage 4)

Introduction

This lesson focusses on bullying, from examining why people might bully, to the effects it could have on the bullies. Teachers are encouraged to add information to this lesson focussing on their own institutions rules and procedures for ant-bulling into this lesson, so that the content is personalised to your school or college. 📋 Lesson Description Overview The Hook: Students examine practical strategies for identifying, reporting, and preventing bullying across school and digital environments. Interactive tasks highlight the difference between playful banter and harmful behaviour, encouraging active bystander intervention and peer support. Interactive Highlights: Informative Slides: Presenting core definitions, prevalence rates, underlying motivations, consequences, and support networks. Word Cloud: Gathering baseline student definitions and initial associations surrounding bullying behaviour. Poll: Gauging class sentiment and emotional responses to statistics on bullying prevalence. Video Slide: Providing real-world context through a personal account of experiencing bullying. Fill in the Blanks: Consolidating key anti-bullying terminology and policy concepts. Answer by Category: Evaluating scenarios to differentiate between harmless banter and targeted bullying. Best Suited For: Suitable for KS3, GCSE, and FE students during PSHE, Citizenship, or pastoral tutorial sessions. Delivered effectively as a whole-class interactive presentation or an independent guidance activity.

Instructions

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Students examine the practical differences between peer conflict and systemic bullying while identifying active bystander strategies. Interactive prompts guide learners to evaluate the impact of direct, indirect, and cyber behaviors across school environments.

This video highlights the official theme for Anti-Bullying Week 2026, offering relevant context to help start classroom conversations around breaking the silence.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Explore tne definition of bullying

2. Discuss when 'banter' becomes bullying

3. Identify the potential effects for the victims of bullying

4. Understand the ways you can support people being bullies or find support for yourself

Learning Objectives

Strong people stand up for themselves...

But the strongest people stand up for others.

Contextualises the core concept of active bystander intervention, emphasizing the distinction between individual self-advocacy and standing up to support peers against intimidation.

Stretch: Challenge students to evaluate why stepping in to support a target of bullying often requires greater social courage than remaining a silent observer.

Device-Free: Direct pairs to write down two practical actions an active bystander can safely take on mini-whiteboards and rank them by immediate impact.

What is Bullying?

Gathers initial student descriptors and associations to establish a collective baseline of what constitutes bullying behaviour.

Stretch: Challenge students to pick two terms from the resulting cloud and explain the distinction between a single disagreement and repeated bullying behaviour.

Device-Free: Direct pairs to write three defining features of bullying on mini-whiteboards and compare their descriptors with another group.

What is Bullying?

Bullying is when people repeatedly and intentionally use words or actions against someone or a group of people to cause distress and risk to their wellbeing. These actions are usually done by people who have more influence or power over someone else, or who want to make someone else feel less powerful or helpless.

examples

Name Calling

Wealth-Shaming

Racism

Cyber Bullying

Peer Pressure

Physical Assaults

Homophobia

Isolation

Violence

Obesity-Shaming

Stealing

Unsolicited Messages

Stalking

Harassment

Gossiping

Intimidation

Humiliation

Unwelcome Teasing

Spreading Secrets

Spitting

Vandalising

Sexism

Inappropriate Sexual Comments

Threatening

Defines the core legal and behavioural characteristics of bullying, establishing clear criteria to distinguish repeated intimidation from single incidents of conflict.

Stretch: Challenge students to evaluate a scenario where isolated unkind behavior risks escalating into systemic bullying if left unaddressed.

Device-Free: Direct pairs to write down two essential elements that define bullying on mini-whiteboards and compare their points with another group.

How widespread can bullying really be?

Research from the Department for Education looking at pupils in year 10 found that: 40% of young people were bullied in the last 12 months. 6% of all young people had experienced bullying daily. 9% between once a week and once a month.

Disabled children and those with SEN were around twice as likely to be bullied!

Most Common Form?

Most common form of bullying was name calling (including via text and email) at 26%, followed by exclusion from social groups at 18%.

Highlights prevalence statistics and reporting rates to illustrate how widespread intimidation occurs across physical and digital environments.

Stretch: Challenge students to analyze why digital bullying statistics often fail to capture the full scope of hidden online behaviour.

Device-Free: Direct pairs to write their estimate of school-age bullying prevalence rates on mini-whiteboards and compare reasoning with another pair.

How did that information make you feel?

Measures student emotional responses to highlight shared attitudes and class consensus regarding bullying prevalence statistics.

Stretch: Challenge students to explain why recognizing personal emotional reactions helps build empathy toward targets of persistent bullying.

Device-Free: Direct students to write their primary emotional reaction on mini-whiteboards and hold them up simultaneously to gauge class sentiment.

Why do some people bully others?

Family?

Children who bully can come from any social class or cultural background. For some there may be poor discipline at home, and/or excessive physical punishment or abuse by a parent/carer or older sibling. There may be very little warmth in family relationships.

Former Victim?

They may have experienced bullying themselves, felt withdrawn and come back bullying others as a response to what they have been through

Understanding the difficulties of bullies does not mean that their behaviour can be condoned.

Peer Pressure?

Other children who bully may take part because their friends do so. But generally it points to insecurities on the side of the bully.

Outlines the underlying social and psychological drivers behind bullying behaviour, helping students analyze root causes rather than focusing solely on individual actions.

Stretch: Challenge students to evaluate whether understanding a perpetrator's motives excuses their behaviour or simply helps prevent future incidents.

Device-Free: Direct pairs to write down two distinct factors that might lead someone to bully on mini-whiteboards and classify them as internal or external influences.

Effects of Bullying

Bullying can affect everyone—those who are bullied, those who bully, and those who witness bullying. Bullying is linked to a lot of serious, negative outcomes including;

1. Impacts on mental health

2. Long lasting self-doubt and anger

3. Decreased academic achievement

4. Substance use

5. Suicide.

Examines the mental, physical, and academic impact of persistent bullying on individuals to highlight the wider long-term harm.

Stretch: Challenge students to evaluate whether emotional damage or social isolation carries a longer-lasting impact on a young person's well-being.

Device-Free: Direct pairs to write three distinct consequences of bullying on mini-whiteboards, grouping them into short-term and long-term effects.

Illustrates the lived reality and personal impact of bullying through a first-hand account, bringing direct real-world context to classroom discussions.

Stretch: Challenge students to evaluate how earlier intervention by an active bystander could have altered the outcome of Jake's situation.

Device-Free: Direct pairs to write down the main turning point in Jake's account on mini-whiteboards and justify their selection to a partner.

Fill in the blanks

Bullying is when people repeatedly and intentionally use words or actions against someone or a group of people to cause distress and risk to their wellbeing. These actions are usually done by people who have more influence or power over someone else, or who want to make someone else feel less powerful or helpless.

intentionally

words

distress

less

helpless

Reinforces key terminology and reading comprehension regarding core anti-bullying policies and intervention concepts.

Stretch: Challenge students to explain why accurate vocabulary is essential when reporting incidents to school staff.

Device-Free: Direct pairs to write the completed keywords on mini-whiteboards as the text is read aloud to the class.

“Wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it.

Right is right even if no one is doing it.”

– St. Augustine

Note: Frames moral integrity and personal accountability, prompting students to resist group pressure and stand up against collective bullying behaviour.

Stretch: Challenge students to analyse why crowd dynamics often make it difficult for individuals to stick to personal moral principles during group bullying.

Device-Free: Direct pairs to write down one scenario where following this principle requires personal courage on mini-whiteboards and justify their choice to the class.

Use this space to talk about or insert your schools anti-bullying policy and what to do if a student feels bullied.

Bullying

Playful 'banter'

What are some examples of Bullying vs Playful Banter? How do you know the difference?

Directs students to group and categorise distinct scenarios to clarify the boundary separating harmless social banter from targeted bullying.

Stretch: Challenge students to evaluate how intent, power dynamics, and impact determine when playful banter crosses into harmful bullying.

Device-Free: Direct pairs to draw a two-column table on mini-whiteboards to sort given statements into 'Banter' or 'Bullying' before justifying their placement.

Who can you ask for help?

1. Your parents or carers.

2. a Teacher.

3. Close relatives, like aunties, grandparents or cousins.

4. a Youth worker, or faith leader.

5. a Young persons mental health organisation such as youngminds.org

Identifies trusted internal and external reporting pathways, clarifying how students can access support when experiencing or witnessing bullying.

Stretch: Challenge students to rank different support routes based on urgency and evaluate which option is best suited for digital versus in-person incidents.

Device-Free: Direct pairs to write three trusted adults or support organisations on mini-whiteboards and rank them by immediate accessibility.

For more engaging and inspirational content check out the Spotlight Channel from the "Channels" menu above.