BBMentoring in schools

Beatbullying works with schools and schools' networks in many different ways supporting students, staff and parents; by raising awareness, producing localised responses to bullying, youth authored solutions to bullying, advising on and implementing reporting mechanisms for the whole school, using surveys to capture the views, feelings and perceptions of a dynamic school population.

Phase 1 – youth panels

Individual school or borough youth panels are established.  Young people self select or are selected by their school, youth group or community organisation to represent their school or borough on the BB panel.  Quite intentionally, the majority of young people contributing to the programme are considered highly vulnerable or are socially, economically or culturally excluded.  

They are young people who bully, perceived as bullies, those at risk of being bullied, young people who are bullied, those at risk of undertaking criminal activity and those who are at risk or have been excluded from main stream education.  In particular, we aim to actively involve young people, many of who are traditionally silenced and excluded.

Young people go through (up to) an eight month programme of intense creative and intellectual workshops formulating anti-bullying policy, practice, responses, toolkits and solutions, authored by young people for young people. Aided by skilled Beatbullying Development officers, creative activities including art, drama and creative writing are used to develop responses. 

The process is reflective, based on an evidence-based empowerment model and melded with behaviour diversion strategies and also engages with the young people around issues such as anger management, conflict resolution and bullying diversion mechanisms.  A critical pathway is the training the young people undertake to graduate as Peer Mentors, which includes peer listening, peer mediation, conflict resolution, campaigning and activism. This is where this inter-agency model has accumulative effect and reach, anti-bullying strategies and tactics are cascaded peer to peer in a variety of very successful ways, the strength of the work is, in the end, borne out of collective action. A cross borough information campaign, a web site and other awareness raising materials are also designed and produced by the young activist.     

Phase 2 – roll out to young people across each borough

BB cascades the programme/campaign out to participating agencies, schools and organisations. Working closely with the BB Peer Mentors who have gone through intense training with the BB team, they go back into all partner schools, organisations and agencies and run similar workshops with as many young people from each organisation or school as are nominated.     

Using a “whole” schools, youth groups and community organisations approach often a BB programme is run in each organisation/school. The team, led by the young people, then disseminates solutions / practice and literature to inter-agency partners.  For example, after close consultation with teachers or youth workers, BB may organise a miniature anti-bullying campaign for the young people in each school or young agency, we may set up a peer mentoring, restorative justice or activities campaign.  It may be appropriate that we introduce BBSports, BBTunes or M8Z, or CyberMentors. The process is always about risk assessment, consultation and tailoring the process around the school or community or youth group.  What BB always does is listen to the young people about what works for them and always facilitate evaluated schemes and practice.  

Phase 3 – training of professionals

In addition to working with the young people, training is provided for staff on how to deal with bullying as we cascade the results of the inter-agency panels.  Training is provided to members of staff nominated by our partner agencies and facilitated in an inter-agency environment, this ensures that best practice is translated around the borough, anti-bullying networks are established and staff from a variety of disciplines and sectors can, all things being equal, respond to bullying in a standardised way. The training is offered to all professionals that work with young people, statutory and voluntary.

During the training, professionals are also invited to work up a “professional’s campaign” using many of the same mediums as young people do.  This, over time, will also be distributed free of charge to partner agencies.

Professionals (and partner organisations) also receive, free of charge, a comprehensive BB toolkit available in paper copy or downloadable format.  Bespoke toolkits are available to teachers, head teachers, teaching assistants, behavioural support workers, youth offending team members, personal advisers (Connexions), governors, mentors, parents, youth workers, community workers, school nurses, dinner ladies, social workers, health care professionals and local bus drivers etc.  Toolkits for a variety of other professionals including prison officers are being made available all the time.

Phase 4 – sub-regional inter-agency co-operation

As the roll outs of individual borough campaigns are planned in clusters a sub-regional initiative is then delivered cross borough.  For example: Lewisham, Lambeth and Southwark unite or Doncaster, Rotherham and Wakefield.     

All results, campaigns, information and solutions are exchanged by the young people for the young people.  A sub-regional statement of policy expectation is constructed, resources are refined and press work is undertaken to gain local publicity. This is a particularly important element of the model as it encourages schools to form networks for their students, giving them the opportunity to share their own best practice and continue to broadcast a strong and unified message about bullying to their stakeholders. Forward planning is critical to this co-operation and crucial to ensuring that the young people of each borough continue to own the programme.

Phase 5 – mentoring

Young people who become BB Peer Mentors go on to become mentors if they so choose. Full training is undertaken with the young people and they work with BB staff as volunteer mentors, guiding and using their experience of the process to assist and mentor other young people who have joined BB.  Adult mentors are being added to the scheme over the next six months. Linked to phase 5, is the opportunity that Beatbullying offers schools that are local, or further afield if agreed by them, for young peer activists and mentors to join us on placements or apply for internships over summer holidays.

Information on our work experience, internships and apprenticeship schemes