Plan your week
Anti-Bullying Week 2026
16–20 November 2026
Anti-Bullying Week can be an opportunity to start conversations, challenge assumptions, celebrate existing work and try something new.
But a busy week is not necessarily a meaningful week. Before deciding what to do, it can help to ask a simpler question:
What would we like to be different because Anti-Bullying Week happened?
Start with a purpose
There is no single right way to plan Anti-Bullying Week. One school may want to improve the ways pupils can raise concerns. Another may want to explore the role of witnesses. Another may want to look closely at language, relationships, online behaviour or how adults respond when bullying is reported.
The 2026 theme, Break the Silence, gives you a starting point. It does not mean that everybody has to do the same thing. Think about what matters in your own setting and what you hope the week might begin, strengthen or change.
Plan with young people
Young people often know things about relationships, language, online spaces and peer behaviour that adults do not see. Ask them what they think the theme means.
What kinds of silence surround bullying? What makes it easier to speak? What makes it harder? What do young people think adults notice, and what do they miss? What would make Anti-Bullying Week feel relevant rather than something being done to them?
Young people can help shape assemblies, discussions, creative work, displays, campaigns, peer activity and future plans. They are also more likely to participate and engage if they feel they have had a genuine part in planning what happens.
Their involvement should be meaningful, supported and safe. Adults and organisations continue to hold responsibility for safeguarding and appropriate responses to concerns.
Do we make anti-bullying work for young people, or with them?
External provider or all in house?
Can you manage the week yourselves, or would some outside help make it stronger? Some schools and organisations will have the people, experience and resources to plan and deliver everything internally.
Others may benefit from bringing in an external provider for workshops, performances, staff training, creative activity, peer support work or help developing a wider anti-bullying approach. Think about what you already do well and where outside expertise might add something useful.
You might want support before the week to prepare staff or young people, during the week to provide specialist activities, or afterwards to help continue the work. If you use an external provider, consider how their work connects with your own plans rather than treating it as a stand alone event.
Thinking about bringing someone in?
Read our guide to Using an external provider, including some of the benefits, things to consider and questions you may want to ask before making a booking.
Make speaking possible
If a theme encourages people to break the silence, think about how somebody can actually do that.
Do people know who they can talk to? Are there different ways of raising a concern? Would everyone feel able to speak publicly? What about somebody who would rather write something down, speak privately or ask another person to help them?
It is also worth making clear what someone can expect to happen after they speak. Encouraging disclosure without thinking about the response can leave people feeling less confident rather than more.
Plan for listening
Breaking the silence is not only about encouraging people to talk. Think about who will be listening.
Staff may need reminding about procedures, sources of support and how concerns should be passed on. Young people involved in peer support may need preparation and clear boundaries around what they should and should not take responsibility for. Parents and carers may also benefit from knowing what the school or organisation is doing and how they can raise concerns.
Breaking the silence is not only about asking people to speak. It is about creating places where people know they will be heard.
Think beyond one activity
An assembly can start a conversation. A poster can make something visible. A workshop can explore an issue. A creative activity can help people think differently.
But no single activity can carry the whole responsibility for anti-bullying work. Consider how different parts of the week connect with each other and with the work already taking place in your school, organisation or community.
Anti-Bullying Week may also be a useful time to look again at existing anti-bullying policies, reporting routes, peer support, staff practice or previous work with young people.
Before the week
You might begin by asking:
What do we want the week to achieve? What do young people think we should explore? What is already working well? Is there something that needs more attention? How will I prepare my students for activities during Anti-Bullying Week? Do I bring in an external provider, such as workshops, before or during the week? How can people raise concerns safely? Who needs to know what is planned? Are staff and young people involved in supporting others properly prepared? What will happen if the week leads somebody to disclose bullying?
Planning for that possibility is as important as planning the activities themselves.
During the week
Give people more than one way to take part. Some will want to talk. Some may prefer to create, write, perform, draw, make, discuss or simply listen.
Keep support routes visible throughout the week. Notice what conversations emerge. Listen to what surprises you. If young people raise issues that were not part of the original plan, those may be some of the most valuable things to come from the week.
The five ideas behind Break the Silence can help you reflect on what is happening:
Speak | Listen | Notice | Act | Follow up
They do not have to become five separate days or five separate activities. Use them in whatever way is useful for your setting.
After the week
Friday is not the end. Bullying can happen in every month of the year, not only during Anti-Bullying Week.
Ask young people and adults what they noticed.
What worked? What did not? Did anything emerge that needs further attention? Did people suggest changes? Were concerns raised that need following up? Is there something worth continuing?
How will you use Anti-Bullying Week to help deal with bullying throughout the year?
Some of the most important results of Anti-Bullying Week may only become visible afterwards.
A few questions to take with you
Before your plans are finished, ask:
What are we hoping to change? Who has helped shape the week? How can somebody speak if they need help? Who will listen? What will happen next? What will we follow up? What will still be happening after 20 November?
Anti-Bullying Week is five days. The work around bullying is not.
A week can be a catalyst. It cannot, by itself, cure bullying.