Anti-Bullying Week 2026Break the Silence
16–20 November 2026
Anti-Bullying Week 2026 is an opportunity to raise awareness, explore bullying openly and give energy and visibility to anti-bullying work taking place in schools, communities and organisations across the UK and abroad.
Each year's theme offers a starting point. It does not provide one answer to bullying, because bullying is rarely that simple.
For 2026, the theme is:
Break the Silence
What is silence?
Silence is not simply the absence of words.
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It might mean not speaking. It might mean not being asked. It might mean speaking but not being believed. It might mean not knowing how to explain what is happening.
It can come from fear of making things worse, fear of retaliation, embarrassment, shame or uncertainty about what will happen next. Silence can also mean noticing something but saying nothing. Knowing something is wrong but not acting. Or knowing that bullying may be happening but choosing not to acknowledge it.
So when we talk about breaking the silence, an important question is:
Whose silence are we talking about?
Whose silence?
The silence surrounding bullying can involve many people:
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People experiencing bullying may be frightened, embarrassed, isolated or unsure that speaking will help. Witnesses may fear becoming a target themselves, losing friendships or making the situation worse. Adults may not recognise what is happening, may interpret events differently from young people, may not want to get involved, or may be unsure how best to respond.
Schools and organisations can sometimes find it difficult to acknowledge bullying openly. Concern about reputation or uncertainty about what constitutes bullying can contribute to problems being minimised. People who bully may also need opportunities to talk honestly about their behaviour, its impact and what lies behind it.
Acknowledging that bullying is happening does not mean that a school or organisation has failed.
Acknowledging a problem is the beginning of changing it, not an admission that change is impossible.
Why this theme?
Silence can surround bullying. Someone experiencing bullying may find it difficult to tell anyone what is happening. A witness may see or hear something and remain quiet. Adults may not notice what is taking place, may not want to get involved, or may be uncertain about what to do. Organisations can sometimes minimise or avoid acknowledging bullying rather than confronting it openly.
People who bully can also be silent about what they are doing, why they are doing it, or what may be happening in their own lives. Breaking that silence creates opportunities to understand what is happening and to change it.
FOR SCHOOLS
Workshops and support for schools
Schools can plan and run Anti-Bullying Week themselves or bring in external support before or during the Week.
Breaking the silence means more than speaking
Encouraging people to tell someone is important, but speaking is only one part of the process. What happens after someone speaks? Are they listened to? Are they taken seriously? Does anyone notice when someone is struggling but cannot find the words? Does anything change? And does anyone check later to see whether that change lasted?
Breaking the silence is not only about asking people to speak. It is about creating places where people know they will be heard.
One useful way of exploring this is through five connected ideas:
Speak | Listen | Notice | Act | Follow up
Speak
Create safe and realistic ways for people to share what is happening, ask for help, raise concerns or challenge harmful behaviour. Speaking should be encouraged, but nobody experiencing bullying should be blamed because they found it difficult to speak.
Listen
Give people time to explain what has happened and how it has affected them. Listening does not mean assuming that we already know the whole story. It means taking what someone says seriously enough to find out more.
Notice
Not everybody will speak. Changes in behaviour, relationships, attendance, participation or confidence may tell us that something is wrong. Young people themselves will often notice changes among their peers before adults do. Noticing means remaining curious rather than jumping immediately to conclusions.
Act
Listening without appropriate action can deepen the feeling that speaking makes no difference. Action should respond to what has actually happened, consider safety and recognise that different situations may require different responses. What works for one person may not work for another.
Follow up
Bullying rarely disappears simply because one conversation has taken place. Check what happened afterwards. Has the behaviour stopped? Does the person feel safer? Have relationships or circumstances changed? Is further action needed? Following up tells people that what they said mattered.
For young people, or with them?
Anti-bullying work is often created for young people. But what changes when it is created with them?
Young people can help identify what bullying looks and feels like in their own environments. They can question adult assumptions, suggest approaches adults may not have considered and help shape language, activities, policies and responses that make sense to them. That does not mean transferring responsibility for bullying onto young people.
Peer-led and youth-led approaches need appropriate training, resources and support. Adults and organisations retain their safeguarding responsibilities. A whole-school approach brings pupils, teachers, support staff, leaders, families and others into the conversation.
The aim is not simply to have an anti-bullying policy. It is to create a culture that knows what to do with it.
Do we make anti-bullying work for young people, or with them?
Anti-Bullying Week is an opportunity to ask that question.
A catalyst, not a cure
Anti-Bullying Week lasts five days. Bullying does not.
A week can be a catalyst. It cannot, by itself, cure bullying.
The activities, conversations and creative work that happen between 16 and 20 November 2026 matter most when they influence what happens afterwards. The important question is not simply:
What are you doing for Anti-Bullying Week?
It is also:
What will happen because of it?