BULLYING


Half of the children who come to the Red Balloon Learner


Centres have either attempted or thought of committing suicide. Lindsey Cox speaks to Dr Carrie Herbert, founder of Red Balloon, about the support they offer


there is a formal written anti-bullying policy, a HR department to turn to for help, and if that doesn’t work you can go to an employment tribunal to get the problem resolved. But in schools this does not happen. If the headteacher says that you are not being bullied then there is not much that you can do about it. A lot of the bullying was put back on the kid and it was seen as being their problem. “In the UK we say that we want all children go


R


to school because as a country we feel that education is valuable and important. But the fact is that some children are missing school because of severe bullying. It gets to a point where the tormenting becomes so bad that they tell their parents that they can’t do it anymore, or they take an overdose, or break down. And suddenly the parents realise that the child has been managing bullying, or not managing it, for years. There is no HR manager out there, no employment tribunal.” When a family member became a victim of bullying,


Dr Herbert was appalled when the headteacher refused to accept that this could happen in his school. Thankfully the child being fairly resourceful was able to structure her own home learning programme and her parents were able to afford private tuition, but it did beg the question of what happens to those children whose parents are not able to help in this way. Dr Herbert spoke to a group of headteachers telling


them of the need to make provision for children who were missing education because of bullying, but nothing came of this. Following this, a parent contacted her saying in the belief that Dr Herbert was running an intensive care programme for bullied children. She was not, but it soon became clear to her that in the absence of anyone else doing anything about the problem then it might as well be her. And so in 1996, Dr Herbert established Red Balloon


to provide a learning environment for children who had voted with their feet and left mainstream education because they had been bullied. Dr Herbert turned over her home in Cambridge so


that the school could have a stable base. She moved her bed up into the attic so that mathematics classes could take place in what had been her bedroom, and the en-suite bathroom became the science lab. Sofas were pushed back for more space and the house was filled with children and piles of books. Within a year there were 10 children in Red Balloon. After almost eight years of running the premises out of her home the school moved into another property meaning that there were places for an additional five children within a dedicated space. Some of the children come to the school so badly


bullied that they cannot make eye contact with another person, and often because of the time they have missed at school they have fallen behind in their learning too. These children know that they just cannot go back to endure more bullying but at the same time are eager to learn. What Red Balloon aims to offer these children is


a nurturing environment where their self-confidence can be restored, their self-esteem can grow, and where they can relearn the capacity to trust other people once more. The emphasis is on one-to-one, small group and peer learning getting the children back up-to-speed with their academic work, while circle time, ethics, personal and social education and additional close individual support and therapy helps them deal with the traumas they have encountered and regain their self-confidence and feelings of self-worth. Children are encouraged to choose their own learning materials and to structure their own learning. Dr Herbert continued: “This kind of pride in one’s


own abilities can be learned no matter what the subject matter. We had one girl who enjoyed writing stories. I asked her how she thought they might be improved which led to her rewriting the stories. I then asked her


SecEd • June 24 2010


UNNING ANTI-BULLYING days concurrently in businesses and in schools made Dr Carrie Herbert realise the lack of structure within the education system for dealing with bullying. She explained: “In industry


Giving children their lives back


what she would like to do next and she said that she would like to read them to some younger children. I knew some teachers at a primary school and arranged for her to do this. Can you imagine what this did for her self-confidence?” The long-term aim of Red Balloon is to give


children their “lives back”. This may be that they return to mainstream school, continue with their education at a 6th form college or a college of further education, or they may elect to enter employment. Returning them to a mainstream school takes time


and management and requires the co-operation of the child, the staff, the therapist, the parents, the local authority, and of course the new school. Negotiations as to which lesson, which staff member will accompany, and how long the child will stay are all negotiated too, giving the child some power and control over what happens. Some children start off by attending specific lessons at their new school and then slowly build up to half a day or a full day and then a full week. After each visit, a debriefing session follows at Red Balloon where the child can voice their concerns. Most children spend about 12 months at Red


Balloon until they feel they are ready to go back to a mainstream school. Dr Herbert continued: “Children who have been


badly bullied are not in a position to change schools and go from one to another, running away from the ‘bullies’ without a break and some support. They don’t have the personal resources, they lack the self-esteem, their batteries are low, they are constantly looking over their shoulder. This process of re-integration needs to be managed very carefully by all parties involved.” Such is the demand for Red Balloon that from the


original school in Cambridge they now have centres in Norwich and Harrow, with plans to expand into Warwick, Preston and Liverpool later this year. Despite such growth, the fundamentals of each Red Balloon centre remain the same – a maximum of 15 children at each school who can benefit from one-to-one teaching and pastoral attention and three basic aims; to raise children’s self-esteem, to get them back on an academic track, and return them to an ordinary life. Such individual care does not come cheap but the


alternative for the children could be a life given over to depression, abuse and unemployment which could cost a lot more – by the government’s own estimate up to £3 million over their lifetime. With Red Balloon the children get a second chance, with help they turn their lives around and get their place back in society.


SecEd


• Lindsey Cox is a former teacher and freelance journalist


Further information http://redballoonlearner.co.uk


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www.artsaward.org.uk Arts Award participants, Notre Dame High School, Sheffi eld. Photo Porl Medlock 13


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