Rydal Penrhos is a small independent school in Colwyn Bay, North Wales. The Diana Award trained their Year 5 students as Anti-Bullying Ambassadors in Summer 2021, with training sponsored by Nationwide Building Society.
In March 2023, The Diana Award had the privilege to talk to staff and Anti-Bullying Ambassadors from Rydal Penrhos School to discuss the impact of the Anti-Bullying Ambassador Programme (ABAP).
Rydal Penrhos is a small independent school in Colwyn Bay, North Wales. The Diana Award trained their Year 5 students as Anti-Bullying Ambassadors in Summer 2021, with training sponsored by Nationwide Building Society. Having led anti-bullying work in the school during their Year 6, these Ambassadors have since gone on to train their younger peers. This second cohort of Ambassadors applied and interviewed for the role, demonstrating that being an Anti-Bullying Ambassador is seen as a privilege and is a role for which many students applied. Through this method of application and seeing the work of previous Ambassadors, the current Ambassadors had a good understanding of the role prior to commencing their Ambassador journey. It was these current Ambassadors we spoke to about all their amazing anti-bullying work since September 2022, and the change to the school since the initial training nearly 2 years prior.
The Ambassador team are led by an Ambassador who also holds the “Mental Health and Wellbeing Champion” position at the school. This was a pupil-inspired structure that allows for early development of leadership and teamwork skills through leading and participating in social action as part of the ABAP. Ambassadors are supported by staff and a member of Senior Leadership. When asked about tips for other participating schools to replicate their success, staff stressed the importance to ‘introduce it [the ABAP) and then let the children run with it’.
Staff tell us the Ambassadors have developed in confidence through the programme:
The quieter ones have definitely grown in confidence... children who would have never spoken now lead assemblies. – School Staff
Ambassadors have taken the lead on delivering whole-school assemblies, including during Children’s Mental Health week. Ambassadors also acknowledge and celebrate the growth they have seen in each other:
I think [YP name] should be proud of writing the script. – Ambassador
I’m really proud of my fellow Ambassadors because their confidence has grown so much since the start of September. They wouldn’t really talk to anyone apart from their friends and now they’ll speak in front of everyone in assembly. – Ambassador
Ambassadors also see an improvement in their understanding of what constitutes bullying behaviour and how to tackle it. They also demonstrate understanding of the effects of bullying:
If you’re hit or punched it’s horrid, but words can be so much more powerful, a little tease everyday can build up so much inside. – Ambassador
And potential reasons for perpetrator behaviour:
You know the saying ‘kindness breeds kindness’, I believe unkindness can also breed unkindness. So sometimes the bully has been bullied. – Ambassador
This increased understanding has led to a culture of kindness and ability to directly address bullying:
I think that at the start of September, I wouldn’t have been able to sort anything out because I wouldn’t have had the confidence to help anybody. But I’ve grown and my teachers have helped me. – Ambassador
Ambassadors also feel improvement in being able to make other people feel better when they are struggling, their ability to be leaders within school and their awareness of becoming a role model for the younger pupils like the previous cohort were for them.
The Anti- Bullying Ambassador Programme is designed so that impact extends beyond Ambassadors; Ambassadors become agents of change within their school community. This has indeed been the case at the school, with the Ambassadors’ actions encouraging increased vigilance throughout the school. Far from Ambassadors becoming “police-like” in having sole responsibility for spotting bullying behaviours, school staff report that Ambassadors are instead inspiring other pupils to look out for each other, creating a culture of kindness. Ambassadors demonstrate this culture through their actions:
Our Ambassadors have definitely become more eager to socialise with children from other classes and younger children; they probably wouldn’t have done that so much before. I think with these positions, they’re very aware that they need to go around with the younger children and check that they’re okay, rather than just their own year group. – School Staff
Ambassadors also evidence a desire for their work to extend beyond themselves and become part of the culture:
It makes me feel good to make others feel good. Hopefully they can pass on what you’ve done for them and do it for others. – School Staff
It’s helping us because we can help other people, and they can carry on living and help others as well. – School Staff
The Anti-Bullying Programme is becoming increasingly established within the school ethos, growing in importance and scope. When asked for tips for other schools to get the most out of the ABAP, one staff lead said to:
Give it credence. It needs to be embedded and become part of the school. – School Staff
Younger pupils at the school are experiencing the impact of the programme on their school culture and aspiring to become Ambassadors to continue this impact into the future. This is testament both to the design of the programme as a long-term initiative with ongoing support and to the excellent work done by the Ambassadors and staff at Rydal Penhros to date.
We look forward to hearing more from Rydal Penhros in future as they continue their anti-bullying journey. In the meantime, we are delighted that the Ambassadors there continue to represent The Diana Award as social action champions in their school community. We trust that through all their actions, Ambassadors will continue to hold central to their motivation their desire to help others. As one of the Ambassadors said:
I remember when I was little, I was sometimes scared to go up to a teacher, but I was okay to go up to one of my friends and tell them everything – and that helped me. – Ambassador
