Lesson video

Hi, I am Miss Lowe and I'm your RSHE teacher for today.

Thank you so much for choosing to complete your learning with me.

Today's lesson is all about how to stop bullying, and because of the themes and the topics that we're gonna cover together today, it's important that you complete your learning with the company of an adult.

So here is our outcome for today's lesson, and by the end, you are gonna be able to explain different ways of stopping bullying and evaluate their effectiveness.

Every RSHE lesson should begin with a set of ground rules.

This ensures that every conversation had in RSHE is respectful, and we're all able to learn effectively.

So Laura is reminding us that in RSHE, we should listen to others: "It's okay to disagree with each other, but we should listen properly before making assumptions or deciding how to respond.

And when disagreeing, we challenge the statement and not the person." Andeep is reminding us to respect privacy: "We can discuss examples, but we don't use names or descriptions that can identify anyone, including ourselves." Izzy is reminding us to choose a level of participation that suits us: "Everyone has the right to choose not to answer a question or to join in a discussion, but we never put anyone on the spot." And finally, Jacob is reminding us that in RSHE, there is no judgement : "We can explore beliefs and misunderstandings about a topic without the fear of being judged." And here are our keywords for today's lesson.

Our first keyword is "bullying." This is behaviour which is intended to hurt someone emotionally or physically.

Next, we have "blocking." This is stopping someone from seeing your posts, messaging you, or interacting with your online accounts.

Now, let's begin today's lesson by asking the question: How should I react to bullying? There are several different types of bullying that someone might experience or witness, and these are physical, social, emotional, and cyber.

Any form of bullying that someone could experience is serious, but there are some ways that we should react that can prevent bullying in future, not only for ourselves but other people as well.

One of the things that we should never do as a reaction to bullying is bullying back.

And what this means is retaliating to the bully with unkind words or harmful physical actions.

It's important to note that this is never an acceptable way of reacting to bullying, and this is the case for two reasons.

Firstly, it can make a situation worse.

It can really escalate an already unpleasant and harmful situation, but it can also make us no better than the bully themselves.

So it is never acceptable to bully back.

If we experience bullying, what we should try to do is try to ignore it.

When a person bullies, they're often looking for a reaction to the behaviour.

So when we don't react and we ignore it, what we're doing is we're taking away the bully's power.

Now, ignoring a bully can be really difficult, especially if what they're saying to us is hurtful.

But what we can do instead is we should immediately report it to a trusted adult or speak to our friends for support.

If we feel safe to do so, we could also speak up to the bully, and we should do this by using assertive, confident language such as saying, "Stop that," "I don't like that," or "That's not okay." As you can see, those phrases there, they're short and they're sharp, they're assertive and confident, but what they're not doing is retaliating to the bully with harmful language.

We should try to speak firmly but never argue or insult someone back.

Now, this should only be done if we're comfortable and safe to do so.

Now, let's pause here and let's check our understanding.

Is what Ethan is saying an acceptable way of reacting to bullying? So Ethan says, "These boys always push me in the corridor at school.

Yesterday, when they did it, I decided to push them back.

I thought it was a good way to show the bullies that what they're doing is wrong." So I want you to pause the video here and have a read through Ethan's statement, and then tell me, is this an acceptable way of reacting to bullying? Great work if you said no, Ethan was bullying the boys back, and this is never acceptable.

By doing this, Ethan is not only making the situation worse, but it's also making him just as bad as the bullies.

What Ethan should have done instead is ignore it, gone and spoken to a friend or a teacher, or use confident, assertive language to tell the bullies to stop and that what they're doing is not okay.

So Andeep is asking the question here: what should we do if we witness bullying? So this is when we aren't being bullied ourselves, but we see it happen to someone else.

If we see someone else being bullied, we do have a responsibility to help.

It is everyone's responsibility to put an end to bullying, not just the victims themselves.

And when we stand up to bullying, this is called being an active bystander rather than a passive bystander.

So an active bystander is someone who witnesses bullying and takes steps and actions to make it stop, whereas a passive bystander is someone who witnesses bullying and does nothing to help prevent it.

However, our safety should always come first, and we should never put ourselves in danger when trying to help someone else.

If you do feel safe to intervene directly, what you can do is use that confident, assertive language that we looked at before, saying, "Stop that," or "That's not okay." What we shouldn't do is argue with the bully or call them names.

So we're not gonna bully back.

We should stay calm and speak clearly, and we should tell a trusted adult what has happened as soon as possible.

If you don't feel safe to intervene directly, what you should do is tell a trusted adult immediately.

You can also offer support to the victim afterwards by checking that they're okay.

And you can use reassuring phrases like, "I'm sorry that happened to you.

How are you feeling now?" or "I can come with you to speak to a teacher about what happened, if you like?" We should encourage the victim to report what happened to a trusted adult.

Now, what we're gonna do here is we're gonna pause again and check our understanding.

I would like for you to tick the statements which don't show you what you should do if you don't feel safe to intervene directly.

Now, there are five statements on the screen there.

I want you to read through all five of them and then tick the ones that you think are correct.

So you're gonna pause the video here.

Well done if you said to tell a trusted adult immediately, to support the victim who's been bullied afterwards, and to encourage the person to speak and to report what happened.

Well done if you said those three.

Now, these same ideas that we've just looked at for in-person bullying apply if you experience cyberbullying.

So cyberbullying is bullying that takes place online and in online spaces.

If we experience cyberbullying, we should never respond back to the bullies or bully them back online.

We should also not share the harmful comments or messages with others.

Even if we feel that we're bringing attention to harmful actions online, what we might actually be doing is making a situation worse.

If we experience bullying in online spaces, we should ignore the bully and report them.

Online spaces and platforms will have a block function and a report function.

So when we report somebody or an account online, what we're doing is notifying the platform of harmful behaviour that we've come across.

And by blocking them, we can no longer see the account in question, and they can no longer interact with you or your online account.

We should keep a record of any bullying that we experience online.

We should take note of things like the time, the date, the account in question, the platform that it occurred on, and what was posted.

If you are able to, and it isn't upsetting, save a copy of the messages too, because this is all excellent evidence for reporting the bullying.

So Andeep is asking here: "What should we do if we witness cyberbullying?" So this is cyberbullying that isn't happening to us, but we see it happening to someone else online.

What we should do is not share, like, or comment on bullying posts because this can make things worse.

We should also take action by taking screenshots as evidence if it is safe to do so.

We should report the content to the platform, contact the person being bullied privately to offer support, and tell a trusted adult about what has happened.

Some key tips to remember here about how to react if you're being bullied are to remain calm, ignore the bully where possible, if you feel safe to do so, speak up by using assertive language, but don't insult the person back.

And then keep a note of any online incidents, including the time, place, or platform.

Now, let's pause here and let's check our understanding.

True or false? If we experience bullying online, we should share the harmful comments to bring attention to it.

I want you to pause the video here and tell me, is this true or false? Well done if you said false.

Why is this false? Well, we shouldn't share harmful bullying comments online, as this may make the situation worse.

Instead, we should block and report the account responsible for the bullying.

Now we're gonna put our learning into practise.

So I would like for you to complete the paragraph by filling in the blanks.

To do this, what I want for you to do is read through the paragraph as it is now with the blanks and then see if you can fill in the missing words.

Want you to pause the video, have a go at this, and then we'll have a look at what your completed paragraph should look like in a couple of minutes.

Great work.

So this is what your completed paragraph should look like.

Let's read through it together.

"If we experience bullying, it is never acceptable to bully the person back.

We should do our best to ignore it or speak up if we feel safe to do so.

The same applies if we experience cyberbullying.

In this case, we should report and block the account and take a note of what happened, including what platform it occurred on, what was said, and the name of the account.

In both types of cases, we should always tell a trusted adult what has happened as soon as possible.

If we witness bullying or cyberbullying, we should be an active bystander, not just a bystander." A big well done if you managed to fill in all of those gaps with the correct words.

And we're moving on now to the second part of our lesson, where we're asking the question: Who can I go to for help about bullying? If we experience bullying, it's important that we find support.

When we experience bullying, we need to surround ourselves with others who make us feel safe and happy.

Bullying can be a really isolating and upsetting experience, so support is essential.

And we should seek help from the people that we're closest to.

That could be friends, family members, or the loved ones, even people and trusted adults at school who make us feel safe and happy.

Now, let's pause here and let's check our understanding.

True or false? If we experience bullying, we should just deal with it by ourselves.

Wait to pause the video here and tell me, is this true or false? Well done if you said false.

Why is this false? Well, bullying can be an isolating and upsetting experience.

We need to find support from others and surround ourselves with people that make us feel happy and safe.

We can speak to teachers for support.

So here we have Miss Walsh, who is a DSL, and DSL stands for designated safeguarding lead.

And she says to us, "Teachers, support staff, and DSLs like me are there to help you.

And we take any reports of bullying very seriously and will help you if you come to us with any concerns.

We're trained to support young people when they experience difficult things like bullying." We could also speak to trusted adults at home.

So here we have Izzy's dad, and he's telling us his experience with Izzy coming to him with an issue relating to bullying.

So, "Izzy came to me when she was experiencing bullying at a cricket club.

Her mum and I were glad that she told us.

Family is there to look after each other and help each other to feel safe and supported.

When Izzy told us about her experience, we reminded her it wasn't her fault and helped her to report it." If bullying makes us feel concerned for our safety, we could also report it to the police.

Here we have Police Officer Paula, and she's telling us: "If you experience bullying that is physically aggressive or comments are made that make you feel concerned for your safety, you can speak to us.

And you can do this by calling 101 for a non-emergency or 999 if you feel that you're in immediate danger.

The police take reports of this kind very seriously, and they will give you all the support that you need." Let's pause here and let's check our understanding again.

What should you do if the bullying you are experiencing is making you concerned for your immediate safety? Should you call 101, call 999, or ignore it? So it's time to pause the video and tell me which is the correct answer.

Really well done if you said call 999.

So 999 is the police emergency number.

101 is for non-emergencies.

And of course, if we ever experience or witness bullying, we should never just ignore it.

You can also find support from services.

So Miss Walsh here says: "If you don't wanna speak to someone in person, support services like Childline can help you if you're experiencing bullying.

You can speak to someone via Childline's online system or call them for free on 0808 800 5000.

Help is available on Childline 24 hours a day, seven days a week." So it doesn't matter when you experience bullying, there is someone that you can speak to for support at Childline.

We can also find support online.

Every social media platform and other online services give us the ability to report and block accounts that engage in bullying.

By reporting an offending account, the website moderators review your report and may take action.

Accounts that engage in bullying could be blocked from the site altogether.

So it's really worthwhile using that blocking and reporting function online, 'cause not only are you stopping the bullying from happening to you, you are also preventing it from happening to other people as well.

It is important that you report bullying.

Izzy is talking about her experience here, and she says: "I was nervous to report bullying at first because I felt like I was tattling, and I thought it might make things worse, but this isn't the case.

And when I spoke to a teacher at school, they gave me lots of support and advice, and things got better, not worse." By reporting bullying and finding support for ourselves, we can help ourselves and prevent it from happening to others in the future.

And this is true for in-person bullying and cyberbullying.

We can also go to our friends for support.

Like we said before, we should try to surround ourselves with others who make us feel happy and good about ourselves.

Our friends can help make us feel listened to and supported, and this can have a really positive impact if we're feeling upset about bullying.

Like we said before, bullying can be a very isolating experience for people, and it can make them feel quite alone.

So, by surrounding yourself with friends and people who make you feel good about yourself, it can have a really positive impact.

Now let's pause again and check our understanding.

Which statement is accurate? I want you to read through those three statements by yourself, have a think about which is the accurate statement, and then we'll go through the correct answer together.

Well done if you said C, reporting bullying can protect us and others.

Now we're gonna put our learning into practise.

So what I want for you to do is two tasks.

First of all, you're gonna identify and correct the misconception in Ethan's statement.

So Ethan says, "I've been experiencing bullying, and I don't know what to do.

I think that if I go to an adult about it, nothing will get better, and the bullying might even get worse." Then I want you to give Ethan advice on who he can go to for support, including advice for both bullying and cyberbullying.

So pause the video and complete those two tasks, and then we'll go through the correct answer together in a moment.

Excellent work.

So you were asked to identify and correct the misconception in Ethan's statement, and the answer could look like this: "I've been experiencing bullying, and I don't know what to do.

I think that if I go to an adult about it, nothing will get better, and the bullying might even get worse." And what you should have written is: "Reporting bullying to an adult won't make the situation worse.

The trusted adults that we speak to will help us.

Reporting the bullying can also prevent it from happening to others in the future.

So we're making it better not just for ourselves, but for others as well." Your next task was to give Ethan advice on who he could go to for support.

So your answer could include: If the bullying is happening in person, Ethan could go to a teacher at school, a member of staff, or a designated safeguarding lead.

He could also go to a trusted adult at home.

If he's worried about his safety or feels in danger because of the bullying, he could call the police on the non-emergency number 101 or 999 if it's an emergency.

If he's experiencing cyberbullying, the platform that it's happening on will have services available to block and report the offending account.

Ethan could also speak to someone via a service like Childline to get support if he was reluctant to speak to someone in person.

Finally, Ethan could speak to his friends.

Bullying can be an isolating experience, so it's important for him to surround himself with people who make him feel loved and good about himself.

We're gonna end today's lesson with a summary of what we've learned.

If we experience or witness bullying, we should try not to react to the bully, as this is often what they want to happen.

By ignoring it and reporting it to a trusted adult, we take away the bully's power.

Bullying someone back is never an acceptable way to deal with a bully.

It can make the situation worse and make us just as unkind as the bully.

If bullying occurs online, we should block and report the account and speak to a trusted adult.

We should take notes on the time, date, and platform and what was said.

We can get support from school staff, trusted adults at home, and the police if we're worried about our safety, or even services like Childline.

Now, if any of the issues that we've discussed in today's lesson affect you in any way or you have any concerns at all, here are some places that you can go to for support.

First, we have Childline.

This is a website and phone line which is able to offer confidential advice and support.

And then we have CEOP, which helps protect children from online abuse and exploitation.

And I'd like to end today's lesson by saying a big thank you for all of your fantastic work that you've done, and I look forward to seeing you in another RSHE lesson soon.