Due to the ongoing support of our incredible corporate partners, The Diana Award were able to expand our anti-bullying efforts across 2023. This Anti-Bullying Week, we wanted to spotlight a few partners, highlighting how they have helped The Diana Award stand up to bullying across the UK.
SMIGGLE
In 2022 and 2023, we partnered with Smiggle, the ultimate destination for your school and leisure stationary, to raise awareness of the impacts of bullying behaviour and encourage everyone to choose kindness. Smiggle are passionate about anti-bullying, believing strongly in the importance of all young people feeling safe and confident in school, so in their words, “they can be their best in the classroom, out on the playground, or when they’re learning online.”
Choose Kindness keyrings
To help spread our messages of kindness far and wide, we created Choose Kindness keyrings, sold in Smiggle stores countrywide and online via the Smiggle webstore, to raise funds for The Diana Award’s Anti-Bullying Programme.
Buy your Choose Kindness keyrings for just £1 here!
The Kindness Pledge
Smiggle are passionate about kindness and believe in the power of being kind to one-another. That is why they are proudly partnered with The Diana Award Anti-Bullying Programme to help raise awareness of the importance of choosing kindness, focusing specifically on the transition for young people across the country as they went back to school.
To take the Kindness Pledge, just visit a Smiggle store and tell us who you are going to be kind to and how, to receive a free Kindness Certificate to show off!
Can’t visit a Smiggle store? Download your Pledge and Certificate here! Don’t forget to tag us on social media with a photo of your signed pledge!
HEAD & SHOULDERS
For the last two years, we have worked closely with Head & Shoulders to fight all forms of bullying behaviour, including dandruff related bullying. Head & Shoulders is the world’s #1 shampoo brand, and together with The Diana Award, they are on a mission to free the world from dandruff worries, both physically and mentally.
Dandruff is a completely normal skin-condition that affects one in two of us, and it is treatable, yet because of misconceptions and stigma, it is a source of bullying. One in three teenagers are bullied and those with dandruff are twice as likely to be amongst them. Together, we are changing this through our #FreeTheShoulders campaign.
#FreeTheShoulders
In 2021, we launched #FreeTheShoulders, a campaign aiming to educate one million young people, parents and adults on how to fight all forms of bullying, including dandruff related bullying.
Glenmoor and Winton Academies: #FreeTheShoulders in action!
As part of our #FreeTheShoulders campaign with Head & Shoulders, The Diana Award visited Glenmoor and Winton Academies to hear from their students and teachers on how the #FreeTheShoulders workshops have impacted their school’s approach to anti-bullying. Hear from the students and teachers at Glenmoor & Winton Academies here!
Join us in the fight against bullying behaviour! Sign up below to access free, dedicated resources focused on appearance-based bullying behaviours! https://www.antibullyingpro.com/campaigns/freetheshoulders
TRUTEX
We were delighted to be supported by school uniform suppliers Trutex, during our #BackToBullying campaign and throughout our Anti-Bullying Ambassador Programme. Trutex is working alongside The Diana Award Anti-Bullying Programme to empower young people to tackle bullying in their schools and communities. They are committed to helping expand the reach of our Anti-Bullying Programme, helping build the confidence of more young people across the UK.
Anti-Bullying Ambassador Programme
Thanks to Trutex's support, 261 young people from 26 schools became Anti-Bullying Ambassadors! The training saw Ambassadors taking part in a plethora of anti-bullying activities, discussions and challenges, culminating in planning engaging anti-bullying campaigns to take back to their whole school community.
What students said about the training…
"Knowing I can now be there to help people because I know that I can help stop bullying."
"[Training] helped me recognise bullying and understand perpetrator behaviour."
#BackToBullying
Over 10 million young people made the return back to school this September, with research revealing that 65% of young people were scared of going back due to the fear of bullying. Together with our supporters Trutex and Smiggle, we are on a mission to ensure no child goes #BackToBullying.
To start a national conversation about this issue and raise awareness of the importance of anti-bullying, we created a #BackToBullying campaign film with a shocking twist to highlight the stark reality for millions of children returning to school for the new year. Created by advertising agency Revolt, in partnership with Agile Films and directed by Lucy Bridger, the online film mimics the typically bright and happy style of back to school advertising while showing a young boy who gets tormented by bullies on his way into school. Check out this campaign film below.
To back up this campaign, we asked our Anti-Bullying Youth Board members how they felt going back to school and their thoughts on the traditional back-to-school adverts, portraying this transition as one of excitement and joy. But is this really the reality?
Check out their responses here!
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Thanks to the generous funding from the Department of Education, The Diana Award have continued to deliver our Anti-Bullying Ambassador Programme through large, multi-school events across the UK.
This partnership has resulted in over 7000 young people being trained as Anti-Bullying Ambassadors across over 650 schools across the UK. Each young person trained as an Anti-Bullying Ambassador is doing their bit to stand up to bullying, and we are so proud of every one of them!
Hear from a few of the young people involved in the training below!
The best part of the training was…
“Learning about how I can help others and make everyone equal.”
What impact has the Anti-Bullying Ambassador Programme had on you?
“I have been able build up the confidence to talk to different people.”
“Now more people trust me and can come to me in a situation.”
“It has helped me and others to feel supported and safe.”
What impact has the Anti-Bullying Ambassador Programme had on your school?
“It's helped children who are bullied to speak up and ask for help.”
“My school has become much kinder and there are less problems to mend which is great and it makes me really happy.”
“There are fewer bullying behaviours going on and now the students know the types of bullying, it is easier to describe what is happening. I also find students coming up to me and telling me what's going on. I think this has changed a lot.”
Due to the success of the partnership and of the programme itself, we have seen incredible demand for our programme. We are proudly fully booked up until December and have already seen a high amount of interest for our 2024 programme which is really amazing to see!
Register your interest for The Diana Award Anti-Bullying Ambassador training here!
NATIONWIDE BUILDING SOCIETY
Our partnership with Nationwide Building Society across the last three years has been incredible fruitful, hosting three Anti-Bullying Assemblies, two celebrity Q&A’s, one Positive Post-Box campaign and to top it off, together we trained 10,000 Anti-Bullying Ambassadors!
The Big Anti-Bullying Assembly
Starting in 2020, The Big Anti-Bullying Assembly aimed to bring together thousands of schools across the UK to welcome one another back to school and remind everyone the need for mutual respect in schools and communities.
Across 3 years up until 2022, The Big Anti-Bullying Assembly reached over 4 million young people and helped kickstart the school year and build mutual respect within schools across the UK.
You can learn more about The Big Anti-Bullying Assembly here
The Positive Post Box
Nationwide Building Society and The Diana Award teamed up to deliver positivity to school children across the UK through The Positive Post Box campaign!
With an aim to stamp out bullying and spread joy, we encouraged young people to pick up a pen and paper and get posting.
Schools across the UK were invited to sign up to the Positive Post Box, empowering children to channel positivity either by writing a letter or drawing a picture which was then posted through the Positive Post Box and sent to another child somewhere in the UK at a partner school. In line with The Big Anti-Bullying Assembly, and joined by some familiar faces, young people were invited to send and receive their letters, teaching them it’s cool to be kind and promoting mutual respect and proactive kindness to others from a young age.
Thank you Nationwide Building Society for an amazing three year partnership – together, we have created real positive change in schools across the UK!
Twenty outstanding young people honoured with Legacy Award for The Diana Award's 25th Anniversary year.
25 years ago The Diana Award was founded on the belief that young people have the power to change the world.
The Diana Award are privileged to be invited to the ‘My Life My Say’ Next Gen conference on the 25th November. We will join around 500 young people and a series of renowned speakers from the world of activism for an exciting day that will explore youth-led solutions to some of the biggest challenges facing society.
