Schools across the area have been given anti-bullying awards by the All Together United Against Bullying project.

Programmes, set up by the Anti Bullying Alliance, and funded by the Department of Education, aim to tackle bullying of all children and young people.

In Nottinghamshire, the programme is led by Lorna Naylor, of Nottinghamshire County Council’s Tackling Emerging Threats to Children Team (TETC), who said: “I am proud of the schools in Nottinghamshire who entered this scheme, which involved a lot of hard work on their part, filling in self-assessments and developing action plans to work through, to make sure they were able to develop their school’s practice and procedures around bullying.”

The whole process took about a year to complete, with the programme focusing on clear outcomes and evidence of success. Schoolchildren were asked to fill in wellbeing surveys before and after the project, to measure improvement.

The award-winning schools include:

Gold — Berry Hill Primary and Nursery School, Mansfield; Kingsway Primary School, Kirkby; Quarrydale Academy, Sutton.
Silver — Brierley Forest Primary and Nursery School; Church Vale Primary School, Church Warsop; Ravenshead C of E Primary.

Coun Philip Owen, Children and Young People’s Committee chairman, said: “I would like to congratulate every school who has received an award for their anti-bullying programme.

“Bullying and mistreatment of children or young people is completely unacceptable and should not be tolerated, whether it is against disabled children and those with special educational needs, or anyone else.

“By taking practical steps, developing proper processes, and getting everyone on board, schools have shown how this problem can be effectively dealt with.

“Thank you to everyone involved for your hard work and commitment.”