‘In this short book is an approach to a complex subject that is based on our testimonies.’ Photo: Book cover of Respect, compiled by the anti-bullying team at Ilkley Grammar School
Respect, compiled by the anti-bullying team at Ilkley Grammar School
Review by Margaret Nunnerley
During dark days we all need to hear positive messages. This short book describes an anti-bullying team at a Yorkshire comprehensive school made up of students and three staff. They describe themselves as ‘passionate about our role… because… bullying can have a hugely devastating impact on young people’s mental health’.
The project began with a training course in Bradford on understanding bullying and learning how to deal with it. In 2019 the team initiated the first ‘Kindness Awards’ at the school, which recognised two students in each year group who showed exceptional care and kindness. At the same time the team began to discuss the idea of a book that would support the victims of bullying, open up debates on the subject, and discuss the causes and possible ways of dealing with it.
The team adopted a creative and varied approach, which included questionnaires sent out to well-known public figures such as Alastair Campbell, Simon Armitage, Holly Smale and Janet Ellis, and some spoken interviews. The responses afford insights into the deeply personal, long-term effects of bullying. These contributions are enhanced by the results of a creative writing project on the subject of bullying, and by artwork from students.
Michael Rosen, the beloved children’s author, has written an appreciative foreword in which he concludes ‘We have to find a way of respecting others in the same way as we want to be respected ourselves’.
The book coincides with revelations in the media, during a time of increasing national upheaval, that behaviour explicitly defined as ‘bullying’ has become national news. We find that it exists at the highest government levels, when wealthy or powerful individuals are proven to have abused others, physically or emotionally, with few legal consequences or official condemnation. It has brought to public attention the violence and abuse endured by the poor, and by sexual and racial minorities.
The editor and project manager of the anti-bullying team is a young Friend, Esme Gutch, who locates her thinking and approach in fundamental Quaker principles. We can read in this short book an approach to a complex subject that is based on our testimonies: respect and compassion for ourselves and others (‘that of God in every one’), the importance of ‘speaking truth to power’, and the fundamental importance of working towards a society based on equality, since ‘almost everything… from violence to illiteracy is affected not by how wealthy a society is but how equal’. That these ideals are explored and translated into practice by an inspiring group of young people gives genuine hope and reassurance to us older readers who are sometimes tempted to despair.
