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Taking action together was both the theme of this year's Anti-Bullying Week (ABW) and the ethos that inspired its 70 member organisations to hold events across the country from 15-19 November.

From training events to youth summits, from stories in local newspapers to interviews on the BBC Breakfast sofa, Anti-Bullying Week 2010 was once again a huge success in raising the profile of important issues and providing support to children and young people, teachers, youth workers and parents in thinking through how they do their bit to prevent bullying.

A clear message

Ross Hendry, our Director of Policy and Chair of the ABA, played a prominent role throughout the week, supporting events and undertaking press work to promote its key message: that by taking action together we can tackle bullying, whether in school or in the community. Touching upon themes advocated by the new coalition government, ABW encouraged everyone to act, and not to turn a blind eye to behaviour that no-one should tolerate. Our anti-bullying work is guided by the principle of non-discrimination as articulated in Article 2 of the UNCRC.

Making a difference

Anti-Bullying Week had significant reach across England, as shown by the number of resource packs downloaded from the Anti-Bullying Alliance's website. To date, almost 18,000 teachers' briefings have been downloaded, out of nearly 36,000 briefing downloads in total, and there have been over 90,000 visits to the website.

At the heart of ABW, Young ABA was actively involved in planning and running events, including 'Blue Friday' on 19 November, when tens of thousands of school children wore blue clothes to school in order to raise awareness of bullying.

ABA Youth Summit

One of the week's key events was the Young ABA's Youth Summit, held in Methodist Central Hall, Westminster, London. Representing many of the Alliance's members, over 50 young people presented their views on bullying to a panel of key policymakers that included Children's Minister Tim Loughton and Children's Commissioner Maggie Atkinson, as well as Barbara Hearn of the National Children's Bureau and Graham Robb from the Youth Justice Board.

TES article on homophobic bullying

To mark Anti-Bullying Week, an article on homophobic bullying by John Connolly, our education policy advisor, was published in the Times Educational Supplement (TES). Read the article here.

Children's rights

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) sets out, the rights of every person under 18 and how these rights should be met. Our work is guided by the Convention, and our support for initiatives which tackle bullying relates to several UNCRC articles, including (in summary):

Article 2 - (without discrimination) - The Convention applies to all children, whatever their race, religion, abilities; whatever they think or say, whatever type of family they come from. No child should be treated unfairly on any basis.

Article 12 - (respect for the views of the child) - every child has the right to say what they think in all matters affecting them, and to have their views taken seriously.

Article 29 - (goals of education) - education should develop each child's personality and talents to the full. It should encourage children to respect others, their parents, and their own and other cultures.

Article 31 - (leisure, play and culture) - all children have a right to relax and play, and to join in a wide range of activities.

You can view a summary of the UNCRC articles here, provided by UNICEF.