Anti-Bullying Week 2026: "Break the Silence" Guide for Schools and Parents

Anti-Bullying Week 2026 at a glance

• Dates: Monday 16 to Friday 20 November 2026
• Theme: Break the Silence
• Odd Socks Day: Monday 16 November 2026
• Organised by: the Anti-Bullying Alliance, coordinated by the National Children's Bureau, across England, Wales and Northern Ireland
• Free lesson: Break the Silence KS3 lesson pack with slides, worksheet, quiz, teacher notes and parent guide

What is the Anti-Bullying Week 2026 theme?

The theme for 2026 is Break the Silence. It was shaped by more than 200 young people and replaces 2025's theme, Power for Good. The message works in two directions. Children are encouraged to speak up when they are being bullied or see it happening, and adults are challenged to make speaking up safe, to listen properly and to act on what they hear. The Anti-Bullying Alliance estimates the campaign reaches around 8 million children and young people and more than 80% of schools each year.

Why silence is the real problem

The most recent national figures for England and Wales come from the Office for National Statistics, using the Crime Survey for England and Wales for the year ending March 2023 (published March 2024). Among children aged 10 to 15:

• 34.9% had experienced bullying in person in the last year, an estimated 1.5 million children.
• 19.1% had experienced bullying online, an estimated 847,000 children.
• 14.7% of those bullied in person, and 18.1% of those bullied online, told nobody at all.
• 67.5% of children bullied in person said it was by someone from their school.

In plain terms, roughly 1 in 7 children bullied face to face, and nearly 1 in 5 bullied online, kept it entirely to themselves. Because around two thirds of bullying involves someone from the same school, schools are in the strongest position to break that silence.

The ONS advises some caution with these estimates because of lower survey response rates, but they remain the largest official measure of children's bullying experiences.

Why children stay silent about bullying

Understanding the barriers is the first step to removing them. The most common reasons children give are:

• Fear it will make things worse: they worry the bullying will escalate if adults get involved.
• Not wanting to be a "grass" or "snitch": peer culture can make telling feel like betrayal.
• Worry they will not be believed: especially with relational or online bullying, where there is little visible evidence.
• Thinking it is "just banter": children may not recognise what is happening as bullying.
• Shame or embarrassment: particularly where bullying targets their body, family, sexuality, race or disability.
• A bad experience of telling before: if nothing changed last time, they are unlikely to try again.
• Fear of losing their phone: some children hide online bullying because they think adults will take their device away.
• Communication barriers: children with SEND or English as an additional language may find it harder to explain what is happening.

What counts as bullying (and what does not)

The Anti-Bullying Alliance defines bullying as "the repetitive, intentional hurting of one person or group by another person or group, where the relationship involves an imbalance of power. It can happen face to face or online." A one-off fall-out or an argument between equals is not bullying, although it may still need adult help. Banter becomes bullying when one person is no longer laughing, has asked for it to stop, or cannot stop it. Our guide to bullying vs banter explores the line in more detail.

Common forms:

• Physical: hitting, pushing, taking or damaging belongings.
• Verbal: name-calling, threats, mocking how someone looks, speaks or moves.
• Relational: deliberate exclusion, spreading rumours, turning friends against someone.
• Online (cyberbullying): group chat exclusion, cruel posts or memes, pile-ons, sharing images without consent.
• Prejudice-based: targeting race, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or other differences.
• Sexual and sexist bullying: sexual comments, unwanted touching, pressure to send images.

Anti-Bullying Week 2026 activity plan for schools

A simple five-day structure that builds towards one clear message: in this school, speaking up works.

Make speaking up easy: a checklist for school leaders

• Offer several reporting routes: named trusted adults, an anonymous online form, a worry box, and a route for parents.
• Tell pupils exactly what happens after they report, and how soon they will hear back.
• Always feed back to the child who reported, even if you cannot share every detail.
• Run a short anonymous pupil survey before and after the week to measure confidence in telling.
• Give all staff, including lunchtime and support staff, a simple script for responding.
• Record every incident consistently (for example on CPOMS or MyConcern) so patterns are spotted.
• Map bullying "hot spots" such as corridors, toilets, buses and group chats, and adjust supervision.
• Check whether pupils with SEND, and those from minority groups, actually use the reporting routes, and adapt them if not.

How to respond when a child breaks the silence

Whether you are a teacher, support staff or parent, the first response matters more than anything. If a child feels dismissed, they may never tell again.

1. Stay calm and listen. Let them finish without interrupting or questioning their account.
2. Thank them for telling you. Say clearly that it is not their fault.
3. Do not promise to keep it secret. Explain who you will need to tell and why.
4. Write down what they said, in their words, with dates and times, as soon as possible.
5. Keep any evidence: screenshots, messages, photos of injuries or damaged belongings.
6. Agree what happens next and when you will check back in, then do it.
7. Parents: contact the school rather than confronting the other child or their family.

When bullying becomes a safeguarding concern

Most bullying is managed through a school's behaviour and anti-bullying procedures. But Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) 2026 makes clear that bullying, including cyberbullying and prejudice-based or discriminatory bullying, is a form of child-on-child abuse. Department for Education advice states that bullying should be treated as a child protection concern where there is reasonable cause to suspect a child is suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm. Speak to your Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) immediately when bullying:

• Causes, or risks causing, significant physical or emotional harm.
• Is linked to self-harm, suicidal thoughts or a sharp change in mental health.
• Involves violence, threats, extortion, harassment or other potentially criminal behaviour.
• Involves nude or semi-nude images. Never view, copy or forward them; follow the UKCIS guidance on sharing nudes and semi-nudes. Young people can use Childline and the IWF's Report Remove tool to get images taken down.
• Is sexual in nature, or targets a protected characteristic.
• Involves an adult, including a member of staff, which requires separate procedures.

What the law requires schools to do

• England: Section 89 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 requires maintained schools to include measures in their behaviour policy to encourage good behaviour and prevent all forms of bullying among pupils. Academies and other independent schools must have an effective anti-bullying strategy under the Independent School Standards. All schools must also meet their duties under the Equality Act 2010.
• Wales: Welsh Government statutory guidance, Rights, respect, equality (2019), sets out how schools should prevent and respond to bullying.
• Northern Ireland: the Addressing Bullying in Schools Act (Northern Ireland) 2016 requires every grant-aided school to have an anti-bullying policy and to record all incidents.
• Scotland: schools follow the national approach, Respect for All. Anti-Bullying Week is coordinated for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, but many Scottish schools take part too.

A guide for parents and carers

Signs a child may be being bullied:

• not wanting to go to school, or taking unusual routes
• unexplained injuries, or lost or damaged belongings
• changes in sleep, appetite or mood
• becoming withdrawn, anxious or angry
• seeming upset after using their phone, or suddenly avoiding it
• asking for extra money or "losing" lunch money

Try low-pressure conversation starters such as "Who did you sit with at lunch today?" or "Is anything in your group chats annoying you at the moment?" Side-by-side moments, in the car or on a walk, often work better than face-to-face questions. Our free Break the Silence parents' guide covers what to do next, how to work with the school and how to escalate if things do not improve.

Free Anti-Bullying Week 2026 resources

• Break the Silence KS3 lesson pack (free, no sign-up): overview, slides, pupil worksheet, quiz, teacher handbook and parents' guide.
• Cyberbullying and online safety lesson pack
• Official campaign resources: Anti-Bullying Alliance.
• Childline, for children and young people: 0800 1111
• NSPCC Helpline, for adults worried about a child: 0808 800 5000 (10am to 4pm Monday to Friday; email help@nspcc.org.uk (11am to 4pm, seven days a week)). If a child is in immediate danger, call 999
• Family Lives, parenting support: 0808 800 2222

Frequently asked questions

When is Anti-Bullying Week 2026?

Anti-Bullying Week 2026 runs from Monday 16 to Friday 20 November 2026.

What is the theme for Anti-Bullying Week 2026?

The theme is Break the Silence. It encourages children to speak up about bullying and challenges adults to listen and act when they do. More than 200 young people helped shape it.

When is Odd Socks Day 2026?

Odd Socks Day is on Monday 16 November 2026, the first day of Anti-Bullying Week. Everyone wears odd socks to celebrate difference. It costs nothing and needs no special clothing.

Who organises Anti-Bullying Week?

The Anti-Bullying Alliance organises Anti-Bullying Week, coordinated by the National Children's Bureau. It runs across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Is there a free Anti-Bullying Week 2026 lesson plan?

Yes. The Safeguard Hub's free Break the Silence lesson pack includes a 60-minute KS3 lesson with slides, a pupil worksheet, a quiz, teacher notes with a KS2 adaptation, and a parents' guide. No sign-up is needed.

Do schools have to have an anti-bullying policy?

Yes. In England, maintained schools must include measures to prevent bullying in their behaviour policy, and academies and independent schools must have an effective anti-bullying strategy. Wales and Northern Ireland have their own statutory requirements.

Sources: Anti-Bullying Alliance and National Children's Bureau (May 2026), Anti-Bullying Week 2026 theme announcement | Office for National Statistics (March 2024), Bullying and online experiences among children in England and Wales: year ending March 2023 | Department for Education (2017), Preventing and tackling bullying | Department for Education (2026), Keeping Children Safe in Education 2026 | Welsh Government (2019), Rights, respect, equality | Addressing Bullying in Schools Act (Northern Ireland) 2016 | UKCIS, Sharing nudes and semi-nudes: advice for education settings.