Bullies are people who repeatedly find ways to hurt another person with words or actions.

People who are bullied just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time – bullies take advantage of this.

All our schools have policies to stop bullying. You can help the school by speaking out when bullying happens.

If you are being bullied by someone:

  • try to stay calm and look as confident as you can
  • get away from the situation as quickly as possible and find people to help you
  • be firm and clear if you can’t get away easily - look them in the eye and tell them to stop bullying you
  • ask other people who are around at the time to help you
  • tell a helpful adult what has happened straight away and ask them to help
  • try to work out the situations where the bullying occurs and how to avoid them

If you have been bullied:

  • tell a teacher or another adult in your school
  • tell your teachers if the bullying happens outside school by people from your school
  • tell your friends and ask them to look out for you
  • tell your family
  • ask a friend to go with you if you are scared to tell a teacher or an adult on your own
  • keep on speaking until someone listens and does something to stop the bullying
  • don't blame yourself for what has happened
  • use your school’s peer support service, if it has one
  • raise bullying as an issue with your school or college council, if it has one

When you are talking to an adult about bullying, be clear about:

  • what has happened to you
  • how often it has happened
  • who was involved
  • who saw what was happening
  • where it happened
  • what you have done about it already
  • what help you would like to be able to avoid the situation again

If you experience bullying by mobile phone text messages or email:

  • make a note of exactly when a threatening message was sent, who sent it and what it said
  • tell a parent, friend and/or teacher
  • encourage your parents to report incidents to the police when necessary
  • be careful who you give your mobile phone number or email address to
  • bar calls from the number of the people who bully you, and bar unknown numbers


If you find it difficult to talk to anyone at school or at home, you can get advice from an organisation like Connexions, or look at the bullying.co.uk website.