Cyber Bullying is a new and worrying form of bullying which is on the increase and Gloucestershire County Council is providing schools with information on how to deal with it.

The Education sub-group of Gloucestershire Safeguarding Children Board has joined together with Gloucestershire County Council's Healthy Schools Partnership to provide a new anti-bullying pack which will be distributed to schools after the Easter holiday.


Unlike other forms of bullying, cyber bullying can follow children, young people and adults into their private spaces and outside school hours.

Cyberbullies can communicate their messages to a wide audience with remarkable speed, and can often remain unidentifiable and unseen.

Different categories of cyber bullying include:

· Text messages

· Picture/video-clips via mobile phone cameras

· Mobile phone using silent calls or abusive messages.

· Emails sending bullying or threatening messages

· Chat rooms involving sending menacing or upsetting responses to chat room messages

· Instant messaging (IM) is when people are sent unpleasant messages as they conduct real-time conversations online

· Via websites where defamatory blogs (web logs), personal websites and online personal polling sites are used

Councillor Joan Nash, Cabinet Member for Schools, said: "The county council takes the issue of cyber bullying very seriously and is constantly aiming to ensure that those working with and caring for children and young people have access to the most up to date and relevant information.

"The county council is also working with schools to protect staff from cyber bullying and harassment by ensuring that policies and procedures are present in school to guard against such incidents."

The information will take the form of a card within the anti-bullying pack already available to all schools. Complete new packs including the new information card and a CD Rom entitled 'Know it All' by Childnet International will be sent out to schools next week.

Anti-Bullying packs can be downloaded from www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/healthyschools selecting 'Key Guidance and Advice Documents' from the menu on the left.