Nationwide Building Society and The Diana Award have smashed their target to train over 10,000 children
The stats are alarming. Almost half (46%) of young people have experienced bullying at school at some point in their life, with over half (54%) saying it negatively affected their health and wellbeing. Thanks to Nationwide Building Society and The Diana Award’s partnership, close to a quarter of a million young people will now directly benefit from having a trained anti-bullying ambassador in their school.
Alongside the training, the partnership has seen the launch of ‘The Big Anti-Bullying Assembly’ over three consecutive years and ‘The Positive Post Box Campaign’. Both campaigns have been supported by a host of celebrities including Hollywood actor Will Poulter.
Speaking about training over 10,000 children, Will Poulter, said
“Nationwide Building Society in partnership with The Diana Award has made a massive difference to the school experience of so many young people up and down the country. I’ve witnessed first-hand how this anti-bullying training transforms the lives of young people.”
CBBC star Molly Rainford, Positive Post Box Ambassador, said:
“I was delighted to take part in a campaign like this and I wish when I was in school there was a project like this to spread positivity. I think it’s really important that these campaigns exist to encourage children to speak up, write down their feelings and also show their creativity.”
Rhys Stephenson, who supported both The Big Anti-Bullying Assembly and The Positive Post Box Campaign, said:
“I’m so proud to be taking part in such a positive project. As somebody who has spoken publicly about bullying before, I will also support initiatives that spread positivity and respect.”
Paul Hibbs, Head of Advertising & Media at Nationwide Building Society, said:
“The work we have done with The Diana Award to train 10,000 children as Anti-Bullying Ambassadors and promote mutual respect is hugely important. At Nationwide, mutual respect has always been a core value to us, so we are incredibly proud to be able to drive such a positive message and promote equality, respect, and inclusivity in society amongst children.”
Deputy CEO of The Diana Award, Alex Holmes, added:
“We are hugely grateful and proud to have worked with Nationwide Building Society over the past three years to tackle bullying behaviour head-on by empowering and training young people to take the lead. By joining forces we’ve had an immense impact and made children’s lives safer and more enjoyable.”
Nationwide Building Society is committed to investing in and improving communities across the UK. As the world’s largest building society, Nationwide wants to create a society that is built on mutual respect.
Notes to Editors
For more information about the campaign or to gain access to additional imagery, please contact: Emma Pelling emma@pellingpr.co.uk 07958 558172
About Nationwide Building Society’s Mutual Respect Campaign
Nationwide are working with a range of organisations committed to creating a more caring and mutually respectful society, in all walks of life. There are three core areas they are focusing on which are:
• Respect in football, working with England Football
• Bullying in school, working with The Diana Award
• Together Against Hate, working to reduce abuse of customer-facing staff
About Nationwide Building Society
Nationwide is the world's largest building society as well as one of the largest savings providers and a top-three provider of mortgages in the UK. It is also a major provider of current accounts, credit cards, ISAs and personal loans. Nationwide has around 16 million customers.
Customers can manage their finances in a branch, via the mobile app, on the telephone, internet and post. The Society has around 18,000 employees. Nationwide's head office is in Swindon with administration centres based in Northampton, Bournemouth and Dunfermline. The Society also has a number of call centres across the UK.
About The Diana Award
The Diana Award benefits from the support of HRH The Prince of Wales and The Duke of Sussex and was founded as a lasting legacy to their mother, Diana, Princess of Wales’ belief that young people have the power to change the world. The charity fosters, develops and inspires positive change in the lives of young people through four key programmes which include; a mentoring programme for young people at risk, a youth-led anti-bullying ambassadors campaign, a collaborative Changemakers programme that aims to reimagine mental health support for young people with Black and Black mixed race heritage and a prestigious award which publicly recognises young changemakers – The Diana Award.
About The Diana Award’s Anti-Bullying Campaign
The Diana Award's Anti-Bullying Campaign involves several projects aimed at reducing bullying in schools. One of its main projects is the Anti-Bullying Ambassadors programme, which has trained over 50,000 young people across the UK to lead on anti-bullying campaigns in their schools.
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