The Bullying Prevention CIRCLE film and resources

Winner of ‘Best Socio Cultural Film’ at The Helsinki Education Film Festival International

We are delighted to have been supported by the Health Service Executive (HSE), The National Lottery Good Causes initiative, The Department of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media and MTU Cork School of Music to offer you, free to use, The Bulling Prevention Circle film and accompanying resources.

The Bullying Prevention Circle is a short film, written, directed and produced by Dr. Peadar Donohoe, Cyclone Rep that addresses the bullying behaviours which can occur in the social context of schools and looks at what bystanders can do to help bullied and isolated students (for an overview of Peadars’ work see his profile on Researchgate).

Bullying is rarely a one-on-one phenomenon but more often part of a social process where students can contribute to bullying behaviour directly or indirectly. However, when student bystanders are equipped with knowledge about what bullying is and its harmful effects on their peers, in can create an environment where there is less tolerance for bullying and a willingness to help those in need.

The Bullying Prevention Circle is presented as documentary-style film that tells the fictional story of a group of students comprised of Young Scientists and the Drama Club who collaborate on a project for their school’s Anti-Bullying Week. However, unbeknownst to their teacher, there is friction between the groups due to ongoing bullying issues. The film documents the conflict and its resolution as the two teams resolve their differences to work together by creating anti-bullying resources for their peers that encourages bystanders to help.

The film includes:

·      Information on bullying and the 8 sub-types

·      The Bullying Circle and The Bullying Prevention Circle

·      Student Friendly Bullying Prevention Strategies and tactics

All information and strategies presented in the film are supported by a resource handout which reviews and expands upon the presented material.

For an in-depth description of The Bullying Prevention Circle see article: 'New film aims to tackle issue of school bullying' which recently featured in The Echo).

There are also three other FREE TO USE RESOURCES: including a commentary version of The Bullying Prevention Circle presented by Dr. Peadar Donohoe which expands upon the types of bullying, scenarios depicted and the need for all of us to work together to prevent bullying.

There are also two webinars that have classroom exercises on identifying bullying, describing emotions around bullying, how to help prevent bullying and brainstorming bullying prevention tactics.

These are also other FREE TO USE resources available on our YouTube channel: Cyclone Rep Bullying Prevention Resources which include two webinars on what Bullying is, the 8 sub-types and prevention strategies that can work to help prevent bullying.

The link for handout for the webinars is available in the link below.

Also of interest is the RTE report on the play ‘The Bullying Prevention Session’.

Before the ‘The Bullying Prevention Circle’ filmed, it was a play entitled ‘The Bullying Prevention Session.’ It toured live to schools and had 3 parts: a play, a presentation and workshop where students created or nominated bullying prevention strategies they thought most likely to work at their school.

Finally, We wish you every success in your Bullying Prevention efforts and if you have questions or need any assistance in your bullying prevention efforts, please feel free to contact me at peadar@cyclonerep.com.

All the best,

Dr. Peadar Donohoe