Bullying & Truancy

Scroll down for video interviews of personal experiences of bullying and truancy

Bullying

We all know that bullying goes on in every school but it's the way it's dealt with which makes the difference between life being tolerable or a misery. Bullies are very cunning and are expert at getting away with it.

Bullying includes:

People calling you names
Making things up to get you into trouble
Hitting, pinching, biting, pushing and shoving
Taking things away from you
Damaging your belongings
Stealing your money
Taking your friends away from you
Spreading rumours
Threats and intimidation
Making silent or abusive phone calls
Sending you offensive phone texts
Posting insulting messages on the internet or by IM
Bullies can also frighten you so that you don't want to go to school, so that you pretend to be ill to avoid them.

If you are being bullied, tell a friend, tell a teacher and tell your parents. It won't stop unless you do. It can be hard to do this so if you don't feel you can do it in person it might be easier to write a note to your parents explaining how you feel, or perhaps confide in someone outside the immediate family, like a grandparent, aunt, uncle or cousin and ask them to help you tell your parents what's going on.

Your form tutor needs to know what is going on so try to find a time to tell him/her when it won't be noticeable. You could stay behind on the pretext of needing help with some work. If you don't feel you can do that, then go to the medical room and speak to the school nurse.

Truancy

Sometimes, when you're very unhappy, you might want to stay at home to avoid the bullies because you're afraid of what they might do to you. Always tell your parents how upset you are so that they can help you. You need their support.

Every day you go in to school is a triumph over the bullies because you're showing them that you have every right to be there and that their behaviour hasn't upset you as they'd hoped.

The problem is that if you start taking days off then you can quickly fall behind with work and that makes life more stressful as well as possibly affecting your exam results and your future.

Unfortunately, taking time off school without being genuinely ill is considered to be an unauthorised absence or truancy and your parents could end up being prosecuted for it.

Luckily, council education departments have people who can help in this situation called education welfare officers or education social workers and they can often make a big difference so that pupils can get back into school quickly and with the support they need.

Visit www.bullying.co.uk for help and advice on bullying|

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Real life video interviews

Some members of the WAWWA Musical Theatre Company were interviewed about their personal emotional and disturbing experiences of bullying and truancy whilst at school.

Visit the links below to view each part of the interviews; parts 1,2 & 3 show Carlton and Alice and parts 4 & 5 show Joshua and Marie.

Our thanks go to Fred and Jay at WAWWA for allowing us to do these interviews during their rehearsals.