This article first appeared in the Portsmouth Evening News as:

 

"Beat the bullies? It's just a click away..."

by Sion Donovan (education reporter)

 

 

 

Pupils praise their Speak Out Now system

Two bullying victims are to help other pupils report their suffering over the internet.

Lucy Johnson and Jack White were both bullied at school, receiving verbal and physical abuse.

But the 15-year-olds are now using their experience to help others at Crookhorn Technology College.

As well as giving Counselling they will urge victims to confidentially report bullying via a new online service called Speak Out Now.

Speaking ahead of anti-bullying week which starts on Monday, Jack who suffered 18 months of abuse at Crookhorn, said: “The bullying made me feel quite useless. I didn't want to go to school. But I told a teacher and my parents and it stopped. Reporting it online would have made it much easier as I had to keep writing out report cards which took a long time and I never knew whether they actually got to a teacher.

The online system, which will go live at Crookhorn later this year, was devised by four fathers from Havant who wanted to stop children committing suicide because of bullying.

Pupils who don't want to speak directly to a teacher or fill out a form can log on at home and report the bullying in confidence.

Lucy, who moved to Crookhorn because of bullying at her old school, said: “There was a lot of name calling and it didn't look like it was going to stop. I got fed up and had to leave. But having this system there would have helped because they could have seen from the reports how many times I'd been bullied. It's going to work very well. People will have confidence to speak out about it and they will report it.”

Deputy head Terry Barton said spending £900 on the system was worth the money. He said “We always want to be pro-active. If it saves the life or stops the anxiety for one child then it is money well spent.”

Idea started as a pub chat and blossomed into web success

The idea of reporting bullying over the internet started with a conversation in a pub between four fathers.

They decided something had to be done after schoolboy Ben Vodden, 11, hanged himself at his home near Horsham, West Sussex, in December 2006 – he had suffered months of violent bullying.

The four dads wanted to stop it happening to others and came up with the Speak Out Now system.

Founder member Paul Clarke said: “We found many children were uncomfortable speaking to adults in person about bullying but they did want to report what was happening. With this system they can do it through the computer at home if they want to. As well as being confidential, the system keeps records and logs so anti-bullying coordinators at schools can quickly and easily see the full history and extent of the bullying.”

Leesland Junior School in Gosport has been using Speak Out Now for six weeks.

Year 3 teacher Jackie Pick said: “It's been successful so far. We've probably had about 20 to 25 reports of low-level bullying, usually pupils falling out in the playground, some ganging up on someone else, usually between friends. We've not found any major bullying but it's been a success in creating a culture of children feeling confident to report incidents to staff”.

The system has also been picked up by St Luke's C of E School in Southsea and will go live there in two weeks. South Downs College in Waterlooville and schools in the United States and Canada have also shown interest.