Thursday 31st March 2011:

Today, I analysed my notes made from the student’s responses from my visit to William Ransom Primary School.

I was able to talk to 6 of the students in Year 6. There were 4 girls and 2 boys, and they all got really involved. I introduced myself and told them what I was doing for my project. One thing I noticed was that when I mentioned that I also want to help the bully as they can also be the victim (eg: insecure), they all looked really shocked and seemed to be thinking ‘why would you help the bully!?’, but by the end of my time with them I think they had all started to realise that this can actually be the case. I found this interesting how just after one hour of talking to them; they seemed to understand that bullies sometimes have their own issues, which they take out on others. This inspired me that if I give out a message clearly and strongly enough, it can actually make a difference to how people view bullying.

I then asked them what they thought bullying was. They made a big emphasis on ‘to look/ be cool’, which I found interesting because perhaps this represents that the bully is bullying because that they’re wanting to be cool, not because they want to purposely upset you, etc.

It was interesting how when I asked them if they think that bullying will always happen (eg: in adult life), they all seemed to think that it didn’t because people would be mature by then and that the bullies would realise that bullying is wrong etc. They did say, however, that teenagers may bully more because they’re ‘moody’, that when the bullies are older they might be more physical than verbal and that younger children are just naïve and don’t realise that it’s bad. They also mentioned that perhaps bullying could occur in relationships (eg: boyfriends/ girlfriends). They also agreed that bullying can last for life, and that verbal bullying can last longer than physical bullying (unless there are scars/ death).

Another question, which I asked them, was ‘Do you think bullies at primary school will still be bullies as teenagers?’, to which they answered that there are a certain types of people who are bullies, and so they probably will be bullies as teenagers, also one of the children said that perhaps a victim could get revenge from when they were bullied themselves and end up bullying others. One thing, which I hadn’t thought of, was that at secondary school they’re on of the eldest, but at secondary school they’ll be the youngest, and so the bullies would perhaps be less likely to bully when starting secondary school if they had bullied at primary school.

They also said that there may be different ways to prevent bullying with teenagers then with younger children and that teenagers need to be made aware constantly to remind them not to bully and that the bullies at primary school are naïve an innocent so don’t realise the consequences of their actions, so perhaps need to be dealt with in a different way.

They also started to realise that the bully can also be the victim as they could be struggling at home or they may be jealous and have no friends.

When I asked them if they’d heard of Childline, only 4 out of the 6 had heard of it. This is actually more than I expected. However, they all said that they probably wouldn’t contact them if they were being bullied, as they wouldn’t know at all who could be on the other side of the phone. From this response, I feel that my support organisation would need to be very friendly and personal so that victims (and the bullies) feel that they can confide in them, even if they are strangers.

Another question I asked them was about the organisation name and tagline which I’m thinking of using. I asked them if they had heard the phrase ‘sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me’. They all seemed to recognise it and seemed to like this name and also the tagline ‘You’re Not Alone’. On of them suggested perhaps creating a word from Sticks and Stones such as ‘SAS’ so the name isn’t as long. This is a good idea, but I personally think that Sticks and Stones, un-shortened, would be better for this particular case.

They were all very responsive and gave insightful answers to my questions as well as initiating expanding on these. I will take this information and look at ways to present it visually as well as keeping it in mind when developing how my organisation will work, etc. Also, although Year 6’s aren’t my target audience, I felt that many of their answers to relate to the teenage age group too and that some of what they said could perhaps explain teenage behaviour, so I will keep this in mind.

I also worked into a copy of my drawing ‘The Anthropomorphic Cabinet’. I used the colours red and blue and black pen to add some definition to the drawing without making it too ‘in your face’. I think these colours work well and could represent ‘bruises’. I also wrote ‘stop bullying’ on the arm. I think this looks quite effective because the arm could be seen in the position of saying ‘stop’. Also, this could be ‘carved’ into the arm from self-harming as a response to bullying. I will remember the effectiveness of these colour combinations and perhaps use these in my final pieces.

Target for today: Analyse notes from the student’s answers and work into copy of drawing (‘The Anthropomorphic Cabinet’).

Target for tomorrow: Look at lyrics which could relate to the effects of bullying where suicide/ self-harming are concerned and present these visually.