More than half of 11 to 16-year-olds in the UK who have been bullied because of their academic ability say they are afraid to put their hands up to answer questions in class.
According to a survey of more than 1,000 young people carried out by charity The Diana Award, 40 per cent say they have been bullied for their academic ability, while 22 per cent have changed school because of bullying problems.
Almost half of those surveyed (46 per cent) say that they are worried about returning to school after the summer break because of concerns about bullying, with more than a third believing it has affected their school grades (39 per cent) or attendance (38 per cent).
A separate poll, commissioned as part of the charity’s ongoing anti-bullying campaign, found that of more than 4,000 parents surveyed, 70 per cent say headteachers are not doing enough to stop bullying in schools.
“School should be safe and free from bullying,” said Alex Holmes, deputy CEO of The Diana Award. “We’re urging everyone to get behind our campaign by helping us to train anti-bullying ambassadors in every school. We know this peer-to-peer approach works.”
More than 28,000 young people have been trained by The Diana Award to act as anti-bullying ambassadors in schools in the UK and Ireland. This network of young people aims to develop and share best practice, and provide ongoing peer support.
Louisa Antoine, who is 15 and attends school in Essex, says her bullying experiences caused constant anxiety and a feeling of dread.
“My story of bullying starts from a really young age,” she said. “Going to school feeling scared wasn’t a nice feeling because school is meant to be a place of happiness, and for me I didn’t have that because I was being bullied and made to feel scared and traumatised.
“When I reached secondary school I was bullied again. It happened for a year and a half… it honestly made me feel sick to my stomach because I felt really insecure about myself and worthless.”
More than 30 celebrities are backing the campaign, including Olympic diver Tom Daley, Channel 4 news presenter Cathy Newman, and former England football captain Rio Ferdinand.
“I got racist abuse growing up - it got me upset, I was angry,” said Mr Ferdinand. “I’ve got young kids now aged 9, 7 and 5. I don’t want to see them being bullied, but I also stress to them ‘I don’t want to see you bullying anyone.’”
The Diana Award is also providing anti-bullying advice and support online and through its social media channels, using the hashtag #Back2School.
