News

Sorry for the delay in replying to all your e-mails this week, unfortunately I have been in hospital. I had to have a biopsy to see if I had 'Coeliac Disease'. And guess what, I do. So I have been a little down. I have to stick to a very strict gluten-free diet from now on, as well as being sugar free because of my diabetes. Food has now became a bit boring and tasteless, but I am determined not to let it get me down any further. So I am going to just deal with it one day at a time.

I would like to say a BIG 'THANK YOU' to 'Radio Caroline' who have been regularly advertising 'WHY BULLY'. Thanks, your support will no doubt help many people.

A BIG 'THANK YOU!' to all my friends and supporters for all your help in spreading the WHY BULLY word. This is exactly the way I see things happening, my friends tell their friends and families, then their friends and families tell theirs and so on... and so on. Just like in my favourite movie 'Pay it Forward', staring Haley Joel Osment. It's about doing good for others, and it shows how just one person can make a difference. So please keep on telling everyone who will listen, because the more people who know about WHY BULLY the more we can help.

If you have any great ideas about advertising what I'm doing please contact me.

Each week the visitors I receive to this website is getting more and more. Last week the website had over 300,000 visitors from around the world, so hopefully I am reaching those that need help and support. Not bad for a 12 year old girl eh!

However this website will only continue to grow with your help and support, so please keep sending in your stories and poems, etc. Your input really can make a difference!

Gone yes! Forgotten... NO! Just because anti-bullying awareness week has now passed, it doesn't mean it's time to sit back again and do nothing. We all can make that extra effort to do what we can to raise awareness.

I have handed out hundreds of FREE badges to mark anti-bullying week, and have spent many hours both on this website and communicating with people who have sought my help.

What have you done?

Parents of school bullies who use mobile phones and email to victimise classmates face £1,000 fines, ministers said today. The measure was unveiled in a new crackdown on "cyber-bullying" which now affects as many as one in five youngsters.

Schools will be urged to apply for parenting orders which can impose £1,000 fines on mothers and fathers who fail to stop their children sending threatening text messages or emails. Cyber-bullies themselves could find themselves prosecuted under malicious communications laws and locked up for up to six months.

Schools minister Jim Knight published advice to schools on tackling the problem as he unveiled a study showing how growing numbers of youngsters are becoming victims of harassment campaigns via text or the Internet. Twenty-two per cent of teenagers reported suffering some form of cyber-bullying at least once in the past two months. Under the guidelines, schools will have to monitor all emails sent on school computers or "as part of school activities off-site".

They will also be granted new powers in the Education Bill currently going through Parliament to apply for parenting orders to tackle bullying behaviour. Currently local council youth teams apply for the orders but the Government wants to make it easier for heads to fight back against the problem. Meanwhile the power of the orders will be extended to cover pupils considered at risk of being suspended or expelled. At the moment, they can only be imposed when a youngster has been permanently excluded or suspended twice. Parents who have an order imposed are bound over to control their children are sent to parenting classes. If they fail to do enough to stop the bullying they can be charged with a criminal offence and fined up to £1,000.