In July 2022, 8 students from Turves Green Boys’ School, a secondary school in Northfield, Birmingham, took part in The Diana Award’s Anti-Bullying training session, sponsored by the Department of Education. Since then, thanks to the Anti-Bulling Ambassador Programme’s peer-to-peer approach, the Amb
In July 2022, 8 students from Turves Green Boys’ School, a secondary school in Northfield, Birmingham, took part in The Diana Award’s Anti-Bullying training session, sponsored by the Department of Education. Since then, thanks to the Anti-Bulling Ambassador Programme’s peer-to-peer approach, the Ambassadors have grown to a 17-strong team. Through focusing on tackling cyberbullying, the Ambassadors have utilised various strategies, including presentations and discussions, leading to a noticeable decrease in negative incidents and improved student behaviour. In January 2024, The Diana Award staff met with 5 Anti-Bullying Ambassadors and staff from Turves Green Boys’ School to learn about the impact of the Anti-Bullying Ambassador Programme in their school.
Introduction
In July 2022, 8 students from Turves Green Boys’ School, a secondary school in Northfield, Birmingham, took part in The Diana Award’s Anti-Bullying training session, sponsored by the Department of Education. Since then, thanks to the Anti-Bulling Ambassador Programme’s peer-to-peer approach, the Ambassadors have grown to a 17-strong team. Through focusing on tackling cyberbullying, the Ambassadors have utilised various strategies, including presentations and discussions, leading to a noticeable decrease in negative incidents and improved student behaviour. In January 2024, The Diana Award staff met with 5 Anti-Bullying Ambassadors and staff from Turves Green Boys’ School to learn about the impact of the Anti-Bullying Ambassador Programme in their school. We spoke to the students about their key highlights of the programme up to this point, the impact it has had on them and the wider school, the learnings from the programme, and the nuance of the anti-bullying programme in an all-boys school. We found that The Diana Award’s Anti-Bullying Ambassador Programme (ABAP) has empowered Ambassadors with increased confidence, leadership skills, and a sense of responsibility, fostering a culture of kindness and respect within the school.
Selection of Ambassadors
In order to be selected as an Ambassador, students at Turves Green are asked to apply for the role and present to their class. This ensures that the pupils are passionate about the role and aware of its responsibilities. Staff remind all aspiring Ambassadors that they are representatives of the school and that other pupils will look up to them in the role. The staff member told us that careful consideration should be given when selecting Ambassadors and that it is worth considering students who ‘may exhibit slightly more challenging behaviours too’ as they are ‘often more open to standing up and sharing their ideas with the rest of the group’, which can be channelled into positive actions within the role of Ambassador.
Actions
The Anti-Bullying Ambassadors at Turves Green decided to focus their anti-bullying work on tackling cyberbullying behaviour. They selected this badge because of the high number of students who are on social media creating a need to educate others about potential risks online. Ambassadors created an audio-visual presentation to promote online safety and link their campaign to the school principles:
We made a PowerPoint on cyber-bullying, and it was put up in the canteen on one of the projector screens. [We used a] voice over to explain what was going on in the PowerPoint and read out the PowerPoint in assembly. - Ambassador
These student resources served as a great visual reminder for students to know what to do and what not to do. Seeing the impact of their activities has given Ambassadors a greater sense of commitment to the role:
There have been fewer bad things happening in this school because... we’ve been doing a lot of meetings, a lot of discussions on how we can do this and putting posters up. There’s definitely been fewer people in reflection rooms [i.e. isolation]. The ABAP has helped a lot. - Ambassador
Programme Impact on Ambassadors
Ambassadors proudly described the positive impact they have noticed in themselves such as:
I feel more confident speaking out to people because in Year 7 I wasn’t very confident speaking at all. I wouldn’t speak to many people. - Ambassador
The Ambassadors recognise that their role in school can be a role model for their peers, particularly the younger students:
When I first started at this school in year seven... I didn't see anyone to look up to. But now that I'm in year 8, I thought “if I become an Anti-bullying Ambassador, there might be someone in year 7 who looks up to me”. - Ambassador
Staff also shared that Ambassadors have become more ‘confident and better at articulating themselves’. Additionally, there has been an improvement in behaviour as a result of the responsibility of being an ambassador. This is acknowledged by both Staff and Ambassadors:
Over the course of the term of him being an Anti-Bullying Ambassador, his behaviour has changed massively. - School Staff
In Year 7, I would get mad easily, like screaming at everyone for every little thing they did but my behaviour has changed. - Ambassador
Being Anti-Bullying Ambassadors has also inspired students to make a difference beyond the school gates in their wider community. Ambassadors agreed that they have all learnt valuable lessons they can use in the future about how to conduct yourself, how to be respectful towards others and how to speak out with confidence. For example, one Ambassador described how completing a community litter-pick has improved his awareness of climate issues and sense of shared responsibility:
The world is getting more deadly every day because we're not doing anything to stop our conditions, like cutting down trees, throwing our recycling on the floor. If you walk around... the playground, there's loads of bins, but you can still see rubbish everywhere. So, we can choose to do a lunchtime litter pick, and getting involved in that is like calling to each other for help because we all need everyone’s help. - Ambassador
Impact on the School
At Turves Green, the Anti-Bullying Ambassadors have found that changes in themselves have also extended to the wider school. One Ambassador pointed out he has noticed his friends are now more mindful of what they say to each other:
My friend group is a lot more cautious about what they say to each other now than it was last year because they used to say stuff about each other that wasn’t necessarily nice. They’ve been more cautious to say stuff that is appropriate to say in the moment. – Ambassador
The first cohort of Ambassadors took part in the creation of Equality Booklets for students who display bullying behaviour to fill out. One ABA shared that ‘the booklets are helping students to think more about their actions, so they don’t do it again. Overtime, the Ambassadors have found that their actions have helped others understand the deeper effects of bullying on individuals:
It’s definitely sunk into people's heads that things that people can say or do can actually hurt a person on the inside rather than the outside. – Ambassador
The ABAP within an All-Boys School
Being an all-boys school, the staff member and Ambassadors are conscious of the need to tackle the misconceptions around banter and bullying:
There's a culture around boys with banter. I think there's less of that culture within female friend groups. - School Staff
Having been trained as Anti-Bullying Ambassadors, the students are recognising the importance of addressing bullying behaviour disguised as banter:
Amongst boys, there's kind of like a culture to seem like the strong one or a strong person. And so, to achieve that, people might seem like they have to bully others to become dominant or empowered. It's important to stop bullying amongst boys to kind of break that culture and feel like you have to come out as that kind of person. - Ambassador
The staff member also emphasised the importance of being a school that does not tolerate name calling
I think it's that masculinity factor of trying to be sort of a ringleader or the Top Boy...It's just making sure that we're not for that culture: you might be all boys, and you might think of it all banter but we don't accept that. - School Staff
Learnings for other schools
Having taken over leadership of the Anti-Bullying Ambassadors from a previous staff member in September 2023, the staff member has found further training sessions such as The Diana Award’s anti-racist bullying behaviour training particularly useful in enhancing his own learning when supporting Ambassadors to tackle bullying behaviour:
That's probably my main aim: making sure that I'm doing the right things so that when I'm giving the Ambassadors ideas, talking about certain topics or wanting to develop further things for PSHE, the right information is there. - School Staff
The staff member shared that there are plenty of opportunities as part of the ABAP to learn new skills and confidence alongside Ambassadors. The staff member also shared that keeping a log of activities, meetings and conversations is really beneficial, especially if there are any staffing changes.
Conclusion
We are delighted and inspired to see first-hand the passion the Anti-Bullying Ambassadors display towards their roles and their commitment to addressing bullying behaviour in their school. It is evident that, though engaging with the Anti-Bullying Programme, Ambassadors have grown in skills, confidence, and knowledge. The Diana Award looks forward to hearing about the continued impact of the ABAP at Turves Green and to supporting Ambassadors as they continue to make their school community a kinder, safer place for all.
