It's Anti Bullying Week this week and we're lucky to have with us, for your questions and thoughts, Liz from the brilliant website - www.bullying.co.uk.

She'll be logging on this week to see what you've been saying about your experiences - whether that's as someone who's been bullied, seen bullying or even bullied other people.

What do you think should be done to help?  What questions would you like to ask her?  Are you worried about bullying and need some advice?

Just pop your questions up here and Liz will do her best to answer them!

Sam and Ewan

What do you do you do about a teacher who bullies? Makes comments about your appearance and makes you feel small

as a yc i feel lyk i stand out at skool, i only go 2 skool a few days a week and get home tutored the rest, but when im at skool i feel left out coz all ma mates r goin out n i cant coz of mum, then tey tlk about it the next day. some of the popular ones make comments about how i can be a sado n geek n will be living wiv my mum wen im 30 n lookin after my mum, sometimes they can call her nasty names, its not my mums fault. i feel like they are pikin on me all the time, thats partly y i dont go to skool fulltime.

please dont say tell a teacher coz half of them dont understand what a yc does.

thanks luv helen

Hello

Well at school in my french lesson all the popular more happy and confident kids are in there they all bully me to the point i cant take it and walk out then the teacher puts me on report. I  shout at the teacher also some people say this is bullying the teacher is it? if it is what am i suppose to do if the teacher doesnt care?

thx Shona

Hi helen

dunt worry about it.

I know exacly how u feel, i used to get bullied all the time, i tried to tell a teacher and they seaid just give it time and they will leve u alone, well i thought thanks alot for NOTHING. so all i did was ask the bullies why they was bullying me and what have i ever dun to them, they was speechless, and didnt have a clue what to say. and from tht day on they have never bother me again.

And as for them saying nasty things about your mum that is horrible, ask them if they no wot its like ot have to luk after sum1.

So maybe thats something that you could try, and if you cant do it on ur own take a friend up to the bullies with you for a bit of duch currige.

Hope it all gets sorted out.

 Babygirl

Hello Wolfgang,

Unfortunately sometimes teachers are bullies and deliberately make remarks to put you down but there are other times when a teacher might say something they think is funny but because they are not aware of your personal circumstances they inadvertently say something inappropriate which upsets you.

If the teacher is making jokes which backfire and you don't find them funny then try a quiet word with your form teacher or head of year, perhaps stay behind after school on the pretext of needing some help with some work and then mention it. It that doesn't work then see if either your parent or guardian can write a letter to the head teacher about it. Sometimes it's difficult for them to do that so you can help them or you could ask another relative or family friend to help to do it.

 
Hope that helps,

Liz 

Bullying UK

www.bullying.co.uk

 

Hi Helen,

These people are mean to pick on you because it isn't your mum's fault or yours. They don't understand the responsibility a YC has.

Would you be able to invite your mates around in the evening on the days when you're not at school so that you still get the chance to see them? You've got a computer so you could do things together at home and then you'd still have the chance to have fun and you wouldn't need to worry about your mum being on her own.

It's hard settling back into school if you've been off for a while but the council employs someone called an education welfare officer, sometimes called an education social worker, and this person can talk to the school to try to make things a bit easier for you. For instance, she could arrange with your head of year for a watch to be kept on things so that if anyone is overheard saying nasty things to you they could be caught in the act so you wouldn't get called a tattler for reporting them.

I'll let you into a secret. The people who call you these names are not popular. They have a lot of people who go around with them who do so because they're afraid if they don't they might get the same treatment.

Take care,

Liz

Bullying UK

www.bullying.co.uk

 

 
 

Hello Shona,

I wonder why this only happens in French? Do you think it's because the teacher isn't keeping control of the class?

The bullies are doing this because they know you don't like it. They're trying to get a reaction from you so the best way to deal with that is not to give them the satisfaction of seeing you upset and walking out, Turning a deaf ear at the time is the best idea but then keep a diary at home and make a note of what happened.

Go to see your head of year and explain what happened in the lesson and that the teacher also heard and saw it so that your head of year can do something about it.

 I can understand why you get upset and shout at the teacher but she is a person too and she might be having a hard time in the class. If she's having trouble controlling the class then she probably feels very stressed herself.

If you try not to react (and I know it's hard) then that should also reduce the stress on the teacher as you won't be shouting and if you're not shouting then she won't need to put you on report. In fact, the only ones with bad behaviour will be the bullies so it will be easier for her to confirm to your head of year that they are the ones causing the trouble.

Do you see what I mean?

Take care,

Liz

Bullying UK

www.bullying.co.uk

 

 

Hi Babygirl,

You give some good advice there because if you get a bully on their own and ask them why they are doing it they're likely to be embarrassed and sheepish. Bullies are only brave in a pack, when they're on their own it's a different story.They know what they are doing is wrong which is why they don't very often answer back.

Just be careful about taking a friend with you to see the bullies because if there are several of them and two of you it could end up in a fight and the bullies are good at turning the tables on you to say it was all your fault!

If a teacher doesn't take bullying seriously try to talk to your school nurse or whoever looks after you when you are ill at school. Just tell other people you feel ill if you need to find an excuse to see the nurse.

Hope that is helpful.

Liz

Bullying UK

www.bullying.co.uk

 

 

Thank you for the information , very happy