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We're doing something a little different. Friday March 20th is the National Day of Action Against Bullying and this year we want to encourage all kids to stand up for those who need it, whether in the classroom, in the playground or online. So we've come up with the #BehindYou campaign to help
We'll explain more about how YOUR school can get involved a bit later. But first, here's Carl to give you a taste of what it's all about.
Most people know how hard this is.
KID: 'Why are you studying, that's so weird!'
In about 9 of every 10 bullying situations there are class mates watching who could step in and help. But unfortunately not enough kids are doing that. That could change though, with your help.
KID: 'leave her alone'
So we at BtN are asking you to help, by standing behind those who are still being bullied. And that's why I'm here today to launch a campaign called 'Behind You'. Alright good morning room 16, I'm Carl!
What we're going to be doing today is a few different role plays to give you guys some practical experiences practical skills that you can use to combat bullying as a bystander. So we're going to be getting a few volunteers to come up and act out a few situations. Who wants to be the victim?
Alright we've got a victim. Who wants to be the bully? Ok the bully. We're going to do just a really simple bystander situation first.
KID: 'why are you being such a weirdo, why don't you do something cool?'
KID: Leave him alone'
KID: 'You should be studying as well'
Our first bystander has walked in and said something. They've said 'look, this isn't the right thing to do' - they've used reason.
Our second bystander has walked in and distracted the bully and said you should be studying: we've got that test coming up next week so you should really get into that!
Fantastic work guys. Round of applause for them!
But sometimes it's not as easy as that. There are some bullying situations where you might be friends with the bully.
KID: 'I'm looking for room 16, could any of you show me where it is?'
KID: 'Maybe if you weren't so stupid you would go find it yourself!'
Ok so let's pause it there.
You don't want to harm your friend who's the bully, so one of the best things to do is just do the right thing - lead by example.
KID: 'Hey it's ok, I'll show you where the room is'
And often that can cause a ripple effect. So one person standing up and doing the right thing can mean more people stand up and do the right thing.
Now this next role play that we're going to be doing is actually a really, really important one. As many as 40 per-cent of school kids experience online bullying or cyber bullying. And it can feel really bad because you get a mean message, a mean text, or a mean video when you're by yourself. The victim owns this profile. But the bully has just posted a really nasty photo of the person looking a little bit crazy.
Even though you do feel like online you don't have bystanders, you don't have friends there who can support you, that's not actually the case. Even as an online bystander, a cyber bystander, you can still support someone. Now if you can't support them, or you don't think supporting is enough, you can also report. Support or report. You can always report to the social media website, or the forum website. But you can also go to someone like a teacher, a parent, sometimes even the police.
So that's just three examples of where a bystander can make a big difference to someone being bullied. But out in the real world it can be difficult to do that for all sorts of reasons.
STUDENT: The bully might be your friend or something.
STUDENT: You don't want to harm the bully because it's then like you're bullying the bully.
STUDENT: Yeh and you don't wanna get in trouble for I guess sticking up for the bystander.
They're all really good points. So in those situations what are some of the things you can think about to deal with bullying then?
STUDENT: You can distract the bully so that it takes his mind off what he's doing to the victim.
STUDENT: If somebody you don't know is getting bullied you can always become their friend.
STUDENT: Get other people to come and help if the bully keeps persisting.
There's loads of different things you can do to help.
Alright Room 16 thanks so much for being involved in our Behind You campaign at BtN.
We hope you feel a little bit more confident now as bystanders that you have some practical skills that you can take to those bullying situations. So from BtN a big thank you to you guys and we'll see you next time!