This pilot was recruiting, but is now full.

United Against Bullying Plus is the Anti-Bullying Alliance (ABA)’s FREE whole-school anti-bullying programme for secondary schools, delivered in partnership with Kidscape. The bespoke nature of this two-year programme will benefit the entire school but focuses on Year 8 into 9 pupils. Schools on the programme will be supported to develop an innovative whole-school approach to reducing bullying, and deliver direct interventions to support children most at risk of perpetrating, and experiencing bullying.

Participating schools receive access to a 360° whole-school audit tool and action plan, an online pupil wellbeing and bullying questionnaire, and a range of support from ABA and Kidscape, including:

• an anti-bullying expert assigned to the school for two years to provide tailored support;
• a range of CPD anti-bullying training courses for all school staff including a face to face inset day training;
• workshops for pupils who have been bullied and their parents/​carers;
• a package of support for those perpetrating bullying; and
• support for improved parent/​carer communication.

Go to the Anti-Bullying Alliance’s website to find out more: www.anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk/uab-plus.

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) and the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) are partnering to commission a number of research projects to find out which approaches are most effective in enabling pupils at the highest risk of absenteeism and/​or exclusion from school to attend, positively engage with, and remain in school/​college, to improve their attainment and reduce the likelihood of them becoming involved in violence.

This programme aims to build schools’ capability and capacity to understand bullying dynamics and effectively identify and support those most in need. The YEF and the EEF are interested in funding a pilot evaluation of the programme with the potential of a subsequent efficacy trial. There is systematic review evidence that bullying is prospectively associated with school absenteeism, that bullying victimisation is prospectively associated with later educational achievement, and that that bullying perpetration is prospectively associated with later aggression and/​or violence. The two interventions (All Together and Kidscape) are currently separately being delivered in several English schools. As part of this round, we are interested in understanding the feasibility of integrating them with the intention to build schools’ capability to provide an evidence-informed whole school and targeted response to bullying.

The pilot evaluation will be led by the Anna Freud Centre. The research team is led by Tanya Lereya and Emily Stapley, who are both experienced in conducting research on bullying, mental health, and wellbeing, including in a school context. They are supported by an experienced and multi-disciplinary steering group, and research assistants.

The evaluation is a mixed methods IPE in 15 secondary schools that aims to investigate the feasibility of implementation, evidence of promise, and readiness for trial of the programme. The evaluation will take place over two academic years and will focus on the cohort of pupils that are starting Year 8 at the start of the evaluation.