Great Northern and local charity help Cambridge children spot signs of bullying

Anti-bullying charity Red Balloon and train operator Great Northern have joined forces to help encourage children to work together to reduce the impact of bullying on public transport.

Last week 15 children from Linton Village College had a session with Red Balloon Founder and President Dr Carrie Herbert MBE, looking at ways they could recognise bullying and the safe steps to take when travelling to support other learners who may be subjected to this unacceptable behaviour. Carrie provided them with different tips and techniques the youngsters could utilise when travelling on trains and buses to help reduce the impact and stresses of bullying.

The session was an adaption of training the charity has provided to Great Northern staff, helping them to feel equipped to take action when they witness bullying between children on its services. The training has proved extremely popular with staff and together the charity and train company came up with the idea of promoting the tools to youngsters too.

Great Northern Passenger Services Director, Keith Jipps, said: "At Great Northern we are keen to support charities across our network, as well as make the travelling experience for all passengers better. This was a great opportunity to build on the excellent learning our staff had from Carrie. We know that incidents such as bullying can happen on various forms of public transport and I'm sure that the children trained will feel better equipped to support younger students who may become the subject of bullying from others. This will help to reduce the occurrence of these situations on all methods of transport, helping people to feel safer and more confident."

Carrie added: "Making sure children and young people are safe and confident travelling on public transport is important. Bullying does not just happen at school and we have had a few children at Red Balloon where the place for the bullying has been the bus or the train. The severity of it has resulted in the child being frightened to go to school - so they self-exclude. By raising awareness among the senior pupils and giving them skills to intervene if appropriate, or tell a member of staff when they arrive at school, may help reduce unpleasant behaviour on public transport and ensure that the children arrive happy, relaxed and eager to start the school day."

Both organisations will now use the feedback from yesterday to look at running a larger session later in the year for more schools in the Cambridge area.

Ends

Pictured is Carrie with Carey Mayzes, Deputy Principal, at Linton Village College.

Notes to editors

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