Anti-Bullying Week 2026: Break the Silence guide for schools
Anti-Bullying Week 2026 runs from Monday 16 to Friday 20 November with the theme Break the Silence. This guide helps school leaders plan assemblies, classroom activity, pupil voice and follow-up work that lasts beyond one awareness week.
Dates and theme
Anti-Bullying Week 2026 runs from Monday 16 November to Friday 20 November. The Anti-Bullying Alliance theme is Break the Silence, which gives schools a clear route into pupil voice, safe reporting, trusted adults and the reasons bullying can stay hidden.
Planning early matters because pastoral teams need time to coordinate assemblies, class activities, parent communication, staff reminders and any external workshop dates.
Daily school plan
Monday can focus on Odd Socks Day 2026 and celebrating difference. Tuesday can explore what silence around bullying looks like. Wednesday can introduce bystander choices. Thursday can focus on cyberbullying, screenshots and group chats. Friday can close with pupil voice, reporting routes and commitments for the rest of the school year.
The strongest campaigns give pupils repeated, age-appropriate chances to practise language for seeking help and supporting peers.
Assembly and lesson plan ideas
An Anti-Bullying Week assembly should create shared language without putting individual pupils on the spot. A useful structure is: define bullying behaviour, connect the Break the Silence theme to help-seeking, show pupils where to report concerns and close with one realistic action each year group can practise.
Classroom lessons can then explore scenarios by phase: friendship and exclusion in primary, group dynamics and bystander pressure in KS3, and online escalation, prejudice-based bullying and repair in older year groups.
Whole-school campaign planning
A useful campaign links visible activity with policy and pastoral systems. Assemblies create shared attention, lessons create deeper conversation, parent letters keep families informed, and staff briefings keep the response consistent.
Schools should decide in advance who owns the week, how incidents will be recorded, what resources each year group will use and how pupil feedback will be gathered afterwards.
Downloads and workshops
Use the free classroom pack for assembly scripts, lesson plans and Odd Socks Day material. Schools that want live delivery can book HIP Psychology workshops for primary, post-primary or staff teams.
Download the free classroom pack or view anti-bullying workshops.