The Bilton Infant School has won the Anti-Bullying Quality Mark Award bronze award

RESPONSIBLE young pupils at Bilton Infant School have banded together to take a bold stand against bullying and create a ‘happier school’.

The school has won the Anti-Bullying Quality Mark Award bronze award, the only school in Warwickshire to do so, thanks to the hard work of staff, parents and governors – but most of all, pupils.

Even the school’s youngest children, from the age of four, were working hard to counter bullying in their classrooms and joining teachers to make sure the school was a safe environment for everyone.

The school children made sure their classmates were involved in games in the playground and worked with fellow pupils to solve any disputes.

Headteacher Sharon Harris said it was the school’s youngest pupils who led the campaign against bullying – creating their own position, “playground pals”, to be the first responders to troubled youngsters.

She told the Observer: “From the playgrounds to the classrooms, it really was the pupils who kick-started our work against bullying.

“As well as making sure everyone felt included and happy at the school, the pupils created their own steering group, working with our teachers and governors to turn it into a group effort against bullying.

“They didn’t even know there was an award waiting for them at the end of the year – they did this because they wanted a happier school and to make sure everyone felt they had a voice.”

The pupils were also taking a stand against cyber-bullying, welcoming Rugby FM’s Jason Moss to the school to help create their own ‘e-safety rap’. Together with the DJ the children wrote and recorded the song before performing it themselves.

Mrs Harris added: “We are incredibly proud of all the pupils for their hard work and really emphasising our school values. We are looking forward to working towards the next stage of the award over the next two years.”

An assessor of the award who visited the school said: “We have not encountered Key Stage 1 children take on this degree of responsibility before.

“We hope that the award recognizes their efforts and inspires them to continue to develop anti-bullying and achieve the ABQM-UK Silver award.”

Published: 8.54am, 4 August 2016 at http://rugbyobserver.co.uk/news/primary-school-pupils-rugby-take-lead-anti-bully-campaign/