Pupils to devise bullying answers

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/scotland/7655419.stm

Version 0 of 1.

School pupils will attempt to come up with proposals to tackle bullying during a conference in Glasgow.

The event comes as new figures showed that more than 7,000 children and young people called ChildLine Scotland about bullying in 2007.

The charity said the event would address problems that have emerged in recent years, such as cyber-bullying.

The head of ChildLine Scotland said young people wanted to be involved in strategies to tackle the problem.

With the rise of social networking sites and text messaging children are no longer safe from bullying in their own home Elaine ChalmersChildLine Scotland

Elaine Chalmers said: "In the past bullying was mainly carried out during school hours, the journey to and from school and when out playing.

"Children were able to get away from bullies once they got home.

"Now, with the rise of social networking sites and text messaging children are no longer safe from bullying in their own home."

She said the conference at Hampden Park was about using the voices of children and young "to work out solutions".

The charity also held a bullying conference for pupils in Aberdeen in June, where pupils were involved in seminars and came up with potential solutions.

ChildLine in Scotland has a designated bullying helpline, funded by the Scottish Government.

Posters will be issued in schools to raise awareness of the helpline and the charity will also be on the road from 6-10 October, visiting primary schools in the south of Scotland to deliver workshops.