What to do if you’re being bullied at school

Topics mentioned: bullying, social media

About: If you’re being bullied at school, you are not alone. Calli shares tips to make sure you get the support you deserve and the bullying stops.

School can be a scary place, for many reasons - maybe you’ve started a new year at school, moved to a different school, or you’re preparing for exams. Something that can also make a period of your school life scary is being bullied.

Unfortunately, bullying is all too common in schools. Here’s my advice on what you can do if you’re being bullied at school.

If you’re on social media and find the bullying happens online as well as at school, hit that block, report or mute button.

Blocking the person bullying you on social media stops them accessing and contacting you online, which will make things a little easier.

Telling your parents you’re being bullied can be a tough thing to do. But it’s also extremely brave and can be one of the best things you can do. Once you tell them, they can be supportive and help you bring the bullying to an end.

Sometimes telling a parent you’re being bullied just isn’t possible. If this is the case, I’d recommend telling a teacher you trust.

Teachers have a duty of care while you’re at school, and telling a teacher means they have to follow the right guidelines to ensure it's followed up and dealt with correctly.

It can also be really helpful to tell a friend that you trust about the bullying. That way if the people who are bullying you approach you, your friend can act as a witness and can also go with you for support when you talk to a teacher.

As much as it’s tempting to answer back to people bullying you, the best thing you can do is ignore them. Responding to them is exactly what they’re looking for. If you ignore them, they’ll begin to learn that what they’re saying isn’t actually having as much impact as they first thought.

Sadly, bullying is common in schools, but it’s important to remember that the bullying will come to an end a lot quicker if you tell someone what’s going on.

It’s also important to speak out. Bottling things up can make the whole situation a lot worse, so talk to people and remember it’s okay to say what’s happening. It won’t last forever and things will come to an end eventually.