¡¥Kick Bullying Out Of Schools¡¦
Kidsline Join Forces With NZ Knights To ¡¥Kick Bullying Out Of Schools¡¦
Kidsline and the NZ Knights Football Club today launched a ground breaking community programme that will tackle head on a growing issue in New Zealand society.
The two organizations have joined forces and placed the destructive social issue of bullying at the heart of a comprehensive and market leading community based programme. In a campaign called ¡¥Kick Bullying Out Of Schools¡¦, the Knights and Kidsline will reach into each and every primary and intermediate school in New Zealand with advice, resource material, a dedicated website www.kickbullyingout.org.nz and practical ways of addressing the bullying issue.
Kidsline Manager Richard Taggart is enthused about the partnership and the ability to change patterns of behaviour that are impacting daily on New Zealand society.
¡§Kidsline has been addressing the issue of bullying since we began 18 years ago. Our teenage counselors ¡V known as Buddies to our callers ¡V each year talk to thousands of children who are being bullied, are worried about a friend or are even bullies themselves.
¡§The scale of his issue has never been truly understood by most people. If bullying was considered a public health issue it would be described as a pandemic. There is a real opportunity to engage kids, parents and schools in a dialogue about how to tackle this issue.
¡§Through the Knights and the popularity of football, Kidsline will help get this message out to many more kids. It¡¦s great to have at our side high profile professional sportspeople, many of whom will have their own experience of bullying to relate to.¡¨
Knights director of marketing Simon Kozak explained the significance of the ¡¥Kick Bullying Out Of Schools¡¦ initiative.
¡§This is not a fundraising exercise; it is about making a difference in our local community. Anyone reading the papers or watching the news in recent months will appreciate the severity of the bullying problem. Kids are literally dying in extreme cases and it is time the issue was tackled.
¡§The Knights are committed to a comprehensive approach to the campaign and will work closely with Kidsline to ensure that the right message is delivered to the kids, teachers and the community at large. Football is the number one game of choice in New Zealand for children under 17 and the upcoming World Cup will capture the imagination of every New Zealander, just as it will billions around the world. We must take advantage of that popularity for the good of our community.
¡§The Knights is the first professional sporting franchise to place such a social issue at the very heart of a community programme and our relationship with our commercial partners and fans. When we are in schools we will talk about the Knights Code, we have created a website dedicated to the campaign, our players will be empowered to help kids that ask questions, our match days will reflect the campaign and we are creating and delivering resource material for delivery into 5,000 schools nationwide.
Knights Manager and father of two Paul Nevin addressed the gathered media at the launch and made it clear that his staff and players will commit time and energy to the cause.
¡§We are in a position to communicate to teachers, children and their families through the popularity of the game we play. Football is renowned worldwide for taking on social issues and making a difference. Players and the coaching staff will endeavour to do just that with regards bullying in our schools.¡¨
The ground breaking campaign also has the support of the FFA, with head of operations Matt Carroll right behind the campaign and the Knights.
¡§The FFA is fully supportive of the "Kick Bullying Out of Schools" Community Programme that is being partnered by the New Zealand Knights. We congratulate the New Zealand Knights on their initiative to champion this important social issue by using the global popularity of football.
"The FFA wishes the New Zealand Knights and Kidsline every success with this partnership."
North Shore City Mayor and former police inspector, George Wood, is praising the beautiful game for putting the boot into bullying.
¡§The Knights and the A-League are providing the sporting leadership on this issue that¡¦s long overdue. Like world governing body FIFA¡¦s clampdown on racism in Europe, football has once again shown the way in tackling a growing problem in our community.
¡§As mayor I¡¦m proud of our North Shore-based franchise and will be watching this initiative closely,¡¨ Mr Wood says.
A full media kit including an electronic version of the launch presentation is available from the NZ Knights by emailing team@knightsfc.com with contact details.
Key
Tools in the fight to ¡¥Kick Bullying Out Of Schools.¡¦
www.kickbullyingout.org.nz
A website has been
commissioned and designed to offer advice and assistance to
anyone linked to bullying. The site will include resource
material for teachers; advice for parents, kids, teachers
and anyone involved in a bullying situation; downloads;
competitions; and links to other helpful sites (kidsline
etc).
Knights Code
The NZ Knights in association
with Kidsline have produced the Knights Code on bullying.
This code will feature in resource material and form the
basis of school presentations by players and coaches during
the Football in the Community programme.
Resource
Material
The Knights will produce in association with
Kidsline schools resource packs and deliver to 5,000 schools
nationwide. Packs will include posters, caps, rulers,
Knights Code, stickers and information packs, (samples in
media kit).
Knights as Ambassadors
The NZ Knights
will discuss the Knights Code during all school visits and
presentations. They will be in a position to offer advice to
anyone involved in bullying and make referrals to Kidsline.
NZ Knights players will attend Kidsline events and
functions.
Involve Third Party Partners
The
Knights will include high profile third party sponsors and
commercial partners in the campaign. Discussions are
underway with potential partners.
Media
Leveraging
The Knights will utilize media campaigns with
partners such as The Radio Network and Sky TV to highlight
the campaign and increase awareness.
Match
Days
The Knights will introduce mascots (one per player)
on match days and once again highlight the issue and the
0800 Kidsline number. Signage at North Harbour Stadium will
promote the Kidsline 0800 number.
Ongoing PR
The
Knights will embark on an ongoing PR campaign to highlight
the issues and the solutions offered.
The
Knights Code
The code says¡K What this means is¡K
Be a Team Player Bullying usually happens because people want to exclude others. If we can accept other people for who they are and include them, we can stop bullying from happening.
Don¡¦t Ignore Bullying If you see someone in your class or school being bullied, don¡¦t look the other way and ignore it ¡V tell someone. Let the person being bullied know you¡¦re on their side. Let the bully know that what they are doing is not OK.
If you¡¦re being bullied, you shouldn¡¦t have to put up with it. Bullying is not OK, so don¡¦t just let it happen. Take action by¡K
Tell someone you trust first Let someone you trust know that you are being bullied ¡V the sooner the better. You don¡¦t need to feel ashamed or embarrassed about being bullied, but you do need to let someone else know. If you¡¦re not sure who to tell first, you could call a Kidsline Buddy.
Ask for help You don¡¦t have to tackle bullying alone ¡V ask a friend, teacher, parent for their help. Keep asking for help if things don¡¦t work out the first time. Remember ¡V you don¡¦t have to put up with it.
Don¡¦t be a bully No one likes to be bullied. Being a bully back to bullies doesn¡¦t solve the problem. If you are bullying someone else, ask for help from an adult you trust.
If
you need help or assistance in any way shape or form, phone
Kidsline on
0800 kidsline
0800 543 75463
Key Perspectives on Bullying in New Zealand
„X 585,000
children in New Zealand aged between 5 and 14, as of March
2006
New Zealand Statistics projection
„X 1 in 3
of all Kidsline callers are dealing with bullying, mostly as
victims of bullying.
Kidsline call statistics 2002-6,
Kidsline call trends 2002-6.
„X In any one month, an
estimated 1 in 4 NZ kids are victims of bullying - 146,250
kids aged 5 ¡V 14. Standing shoulder to shoulder they would
stretch from Wellington to Auckland.
Compiled trend of
results found in overseas and local studies
„X By
the time they sit their first national exams (NCEA Level 1)
more than 3 out of 4 New Zealand kids will have been bullied
at some point - 450,000 children aged 5 ¡V 14.
Compiled
trend of results found in overseas and local studies
„X On average, one child in NZ is being bullied every second ¡V there are 60 instances of bullying in NZ every minute of the school day.
During the eight and a half minutes it will take me to present this information, 500 children will have been bullied in New Zealand schools.
By the end of one hour, there will have been over
3,500 instances of bullying ¡Vthose kids standing
shoulder-to-shoulder would stretch the length of over 12
soccer fields.
Compiled trend of results found in
overseas and local studies
„X 1 in 10 kids have missed one or more days of school in the last month to avoid bullying at school.
On average, 2,500 New Zealand
children didn¡¦t come to school today because they are
fearful of being bullied ¡V three times the total roll of
this intermediate school*
*Murray¡¦s Bay Intermediate,
approx roll 800
„X 1 in 5 admit to being a bully at
some point or encouraging bullying behaviour ¡V approx
117,000 children aged 5 ¡V 14. Half (1 in 10) were bullying
once a week or more.
Compiled trend of results found in
overseas and local studies
„X 85% of kids calling
Kidsline about being bullied had tried ¡¥ignoring it¡¦ or
¡¥walking away¡¦. Even where these strategies had an effect,
they had not stopped the bullying.
Kidsline call trends
2002-6.
„X 70% of kids calling Kidsline about being bullied had told a teacher at school about being bullied. Action taken by the teacher hadn¡¦t stopped the bullying.
Commonly these children told Kidsline Buddies that
the teacher ¡¥didn¡¦t care¡¦ or wasn¡¦t doing enough about
the bullying.
Kidsline call trends 2002-6.
„X
Half of all kids calling Kidsline about bullying were scared
or embarrassed about telling their parents or family that
they were being bullied at school. This rose to 75% amongst
boys.
Kidsline call trends 2002-6.
„X Although
some children are bullied throughout their school years,
kids can experience bullying for the first time at any age.
More than half of all victims are bullied for the first time
when they reach intermediate school (Year 7, age 11) or high
school (Year 9, age 13).
Kidsline call statistics 2002-6,
Kidsline call trends 2002-6.
„X The rate of bullying
between girls and boys calling Kidsline is identical. The
historical and international trend of girls favouring verbal
bullying and boys favouring physical bullying is becoming
less pronounced, particularly with a rise in electronic
bullying.
Kidsline call statistics 2002-6, Kidsline call
trends 2002-6.
„X 95% of Kidsline callers
experiencing bullying were initially bullied mostly or only
at school. In many cases, this bullying then extended
outside school grounds and hours.
Kidsline call
statistics 2002-6, Kidsline call trends 2002-6.
„X The comprehensive UK ¡¥Mobile Bullying Study¡¦ (2005) found 1 in 5 young people had been bullied by text, email or internet chat. Half of that bullying happened during school hours.
Kidsline believes the recent saturation of
mobile phone ownership among pre-teens in New Zealand will
result in a similar rate of electronic bullying,
specifically text bullying.
www.nch.org.uk, Kidsline call
trends 2002-6.
„X 28% of UK young people did not tell anyone they were being text bullied. Only 24% told a parent and 14% told a teacher.
Ends