Isle of Wight Council has launched a new anti-bullying strategy which aims to help improve children and young people’s lives by reducing bullying. The strategy is on behalf of a multi-agency working group and follows more than two years of planning and consultation.
Among the aims of the strategy is to create an environment on the Island where children and young people feel safe, respected and valued. It also hopes to raise the profile of bullying and its effects on children and young people’s emotional health and well being.
The strategy was launched on Friday 23rd October by Isle of Wight Council Chief Executive Steve Beynon.
Speaking after the launch, Steve said he is looking forward to the strategy making a difference to the lives of young people.
He said
“Bullying in the traditional sense is normally associated as happening within the school gates and involving physical abuse. It is far more wide ranging than that and can include cyber-bullying often via social networking sites or text messaging.
“All of these happen outside school and this strategy is about tackling the issue of bullying across the Island. During the consultation process, which included getting the views of visitors to previous Big Day Out and Wight 2B Heard events, it was clear that many young people felt stopping bullying was their most important issue.
“This Island wide strategy is an important step forward in helping reduce bullying and providing the necessary support”
Meanwhile, Isle of Wight Council has launched a new online based reporting system schools can use to report incidents of bullying.
The new system will help the council to collate a more consistent and accurate picture of any bullying incidents in schools and offer support and guidance where necessary.
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