Published: Friday, 16th May, 2008 5:00pm

No room for bullies here

by Rose Harland

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BULLIES will have nowhere to hide when kids join forces with celebrities to stand up to playground tormentors.

Pupils at Ascot Heath Junior School will stage a demonstration against bullies as part of a national campaign which aims to show defiance against bullying and solidarity with the millions of victims across the country.

They will be joined in showing support for bullying prevention charity Beatbullying's campaign The Big Stand by schools and businesses across the country plus celebrities like Kelly Holmes, Radio 1 DJ Scott Mills and the London Wasps rugby team.

As it stands the school in Rhodedendron Walk, Ascot is the only one in the area to take part in the demonstration, which the school's special needs coordinator was suprised to hear.

He said: "Bullying is something we've been doing a lot of work on anyway and we say no to bullying as a school.

"What we're doing is not disimilar to what people nationally are thinking about and taking part in this fits in with our own ideas."

According to Beatbullying's national research, 55.5% of young people across the country have been bullied and at least 20 children every year commit suicide because of it while 20,000 youngsters truant every day to escape the bullies.

Ascot Heath already takes a strong line on bullying and has schemes in place such as anonymous boxes where pupils and parents can share their knowledge and tip off teachers.

Mr Zutshi said: "We want to encourage children to let adults know what was going on so they can get help and support.

"We also encourage them to take responsibility for their own behaviour and have a system of peer mediation in place where children can listen to both sides and come up with a resolution."

Last year millions took part in The Big Stand and organisers are hoping the demonstration on Thursday, May 22 will be recognised as a major anti-bullying movement.

Emma-Jane Cross, Chief Executive of Beatbullying said: "There is something powerful about seeing hundreds, thousands and nationwide, millions of people, physically doing something together to say we want to put an end to bullying now.

"There's no ignoring that."

More schools, organisations and individuals can sign up for The Big Stand 2008 by visiting www.beatbullying.org/thebigstand and will receive a free pack on how to make a demonstration.