Argos corporate news

Kidscape and Argos fight the 20% leap in bullying with the launch of innovative new guide

08 June 2006

"They told her to jump off a cliff and die," the mother sobbed. "Jennifer's eight, but a gang of older girls surrounded her on the playground and called her ugly and stupid, and threatened her. She was terrified, too upset to cry for help, and no one seemed to notice. Now she is refusing to go to school, and is so afraid of the bullies she won't leave the house, even with me. She says she wants to die. I don't know what to do."

Jennifer's experience is not unusual among the calls to the Kidscape helpline for parents of bullied children. Of the 14,000 calls Kidscape received last year, over 51% were from parents of primary age pupils. This is a dramatic increase from the previous year, when only 31% of the calls were about bullying in primary schools. Some of these children had been subjected to horrific acts of physical and emotional bullying, resulting in suicide attempts in children as young as eight. As a result of these increasing reports of bullying in primary schools, Kidscape and Argos stepped up the momentum with their campaign against bullying this week as they launched the first ever anti-bullying booklet designed for primary school children, called "Don't Bully Me!"

Thanks to generous funding from Argos, Kidscape has been able to produce a new 16 page booklet for primary age children, which is being sent out free this week to all 24,000 primary schools in the UK. "Don't Bully Me!" gives information and advice to children aged 5 to 11 on what bullying is, what to do if it happens to them and how to help if they know somebody who is being bullied.

"Sadly, bullying is starting earlier and resulting in more severe damage to the victims than was the case 10 years ago," says Michele Elliott, Director of Kidscape. "Parents call our helpline about children as young as five who are suffering at the hands of bullies, so it's vital that we are in a position to respond to those changes. We are delighted with the crucial support from Argos which has enabled us to launch this project nationwide."

Lorraine Kelly, who wrote the introduction to the guide, says to children: "If you are being bullied or know someone who is, this booklet will help you."

Argos managing director, Sara Weller, says of the booklet: "Don't Bully Me!" underlines the importance of teaching children from the earliest age that bullying is not acceptable, and ensuring that teachers and parents work closely together to prevent tragedies from happening in the future. It is a very worthy cause and one we're delighted to be supporting. Hopefully, with our help, this booklet really will make a difference to the futures of primary school children all over the UK."

The launch of "Don't Bully Me!" follows in the success of Kidscape's joint initiative with Argos in 2005 which enabled every secondary school in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to receive a free "Bully-Free" DVD to help them combat bullying in their schools.