We love our local schools, and whenever there is a need we look to rise to the challenge and support in any way we can.

In 2024 we launched our anti-bullying project, in response to requests from teachers and students. We went into local primary schools – Great Rollright, Holy Trinity and Kingham – we had St Mary’s school come to the theatre, and we went for three solid days to the Warriner and delivered the workshops to every year 7, reaching over 400 students.

We are always keen to deliver anti-bullying workshops to support students. Contact us for costs if you are interested in having an anti-bullying workshop at your school. We know that schools budgets are tight. If you would struggle to fund a workshop we can look for funding for it, or we have a teachers pack which supports you with a workshop plan and resources to deliver the workshops in-house. We also have scripts by professional writers we can recommend if you want to delve deeper into the subject matter. Email Clare at [email protected] for more information.

Group playing a drama game as part of a workshop

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📸 Overview

Bullying is a hot topic for young people at the moment. We are keen to dive into the problem and help shed light on what bullying looks like in our time of playground politics and social media. Work with professional theatre practitioners using thought-provoking exercises and role play. We will explore motives, the impact and how outcomes can be changed. We aim to create a welcoming environment where open conversations can be had and continue beyond the workshop.

Workshops are free to all schools in West Oxfordshire, please contact Clare O’Hara to book.

🎯 Aims and purpose of the workshop

To have engaging discussions with young people about bullying.
To explore the feelings and emotions of different characters during bullying incidents evoking empathy and understanding for all involved (from the bully to the bystanders to the target).
To differentiate between the statements Bullying is bad and Bullies are bad and begin to explore further.
To start a constructive conversation about bullying within schools that can be continued by teachers with the help of post-workshop resources.

🚶‍♂️ Walk through the workshop

We'll use script work which focuses on a bullying incident to explore the role of each character. Does extra information lead to different opinions or are some facts unchangeable?

Delving deeper participants will explore creating characters and choose a different action the characters can take. How does a different action change the overall outcome of a bullying incident?

Bring the session back to the people in the room we'll allow participants to share positive thoughts and feelings towards each other. How can we work together as a cohort to prevent future bullying?

🗨️ Workshop discussions

Throughout the workshop there will be opportunities for discussions around the definition of bullying, when does something cross the line into bullying. We can also look at your school’s bullying policy and have practical discussions about what you should do if you witness bullying or are involved in a bullying incident.

A post-workshop resource pack will be provided to the school. This contains resources and exercises to continue discussions and further explore changing the outcomes of bullying incidents.

Downloads

With huge thanks to West Oxfordshire District Council for their support of this work through S106 funding.

Anti-Bullying Workshop