From Monday November 10th to Friday November 14th, schools and trusts across the UK will mark Anti-Bullying Week 2025 under the theme “Power for Good.” Led by the Anti-Bullying Alliance, the campaign celebrates how small, everyday actions from pupils, staff, parents, and technology partners can challenge bullying and create safer environments.
That message has never been more important online.
Today, nearly all 10 to 15 year-olds in England and Wales go online daily, with over half spending three or more hours online on a typical school day. Social feeds, group chats, gaming platforms, and classroom devices blur the line between school, home, and social life. When bullying behaviour moves into these spaces, it becomes constant, harder to escape, and easier to hide.
Anti-Bullying Week is a chance not just to talk about bullying, but to rewire how we use technology, policy, and culture together as a genuine “power for good.”
Why Anti-Bullying Week Still Matters
Recent data from the Office for National Statistics shows:
- Around 34.9% of children aged 10 to 15 experienced in-person bullying behaviours in the last year.
- Around 19.1% experienced online bullying behaviours.
- In most cases, the behaviour involved peers from school.
The NSPCC highlights what schools already see daily: bullying and cyberbullying undermine confidence, attendance, progress, and mental health, with impacts that can last well into adulthood.
Anti-Bullying Week exists because:
- Bullying is often normalised as “banter” until serious harm is done.
- Online bullying travels with pupils 24/7 across devices and accounts.
- Vulnerable and marginalised groups are disproportionately targeted.
- Many children still do not tell anyone what is happening.
The theme “Power for Good” recognises that prevention is not about a single assembly or poster. It is about consistently shifting the balance of power away from those who abuse it, towards communities that notice, report, and intervene early.
Where Bullying Lives Now: From Classroom to Keyboard
Cyberbullying is rarely separate from “offline” bullying. Research from Ofcom and the Anti-Bullying Alliance shows harmful behaviour flowing across group chats, gaming platforms, live streams, and social media; often via:
- Anonymous or fake accounts used to target classmates
- Edited images, humiliating videos, and “joke” polls
- Exclusion from online groups or classroom platforms
- Dog-piling comments that start “for fun” and quickly escalate
For safeguarding leads, the challenge is threefold:
- Volume: Multiple devices, platforms, and messages every minute.
- Subtlety: Harm wrapped as jokes, emojis, or coded language.
- Visibility: Staff cannot see what happens in private chats or at home, yet the impact walks through the school gates every morning.
This is exactly where a “Power for Good” approach must join human vigilance with smart, responsible technology.
Turning “Power for Good” into Action in Schools & Trusts
Anti-Bullying Week is a perfect moment to tighten the link between culture, policy, and your digital environment. Practical steps schools can take include:
- Reaffirm a clear, visible anti-bullying policy
Make sure definitions cover online behaviour, image sharing, group chats, gaming, and identity-based abuse. Align with Anti-Bullying Alliance guidance and national safeguarding frameworks. - Use curriculum time for real conversations
Go beyond “be kind online.” Show examples of: when “banter” becomes bullying; how screenshots, forwarding, and tagging can amplify harm; how to safely report incidents (including if you are a bystander) - Empower pupil voice
Digital leaders, school councils, and peer mentors can help shape reporting routes and messaging so support feels approachable, not punitive. - Make reporting simple and safe
Clear routes for pupils and staff to share concerns, anonymously where appropriate, help surface issues earlier, before patterns escalate. - Engage parents and carers
Share Anti-Bullying Week resources, explain your school’s online safety tools, and signpost support such as NSPCC and Childline so families know they are not alone.
And critically: match these steps with technology that reinforces, rather than replaces, your safeguarding culture.
Where Netsweeper Fits In
To make “Power for Good” real in digital spaces, schools need visibility, control, and context; without overblocking learning or surveilling in ways that erode trust. Netsweeper helps by providing:
- Real-time, AI-powered web filtering
Netsweeper’s nFilter platform dynamically categorises billions of URLs, including education-specific categories such as hate speech, harassment, and cyberbullying, helping schools block harmful content while keeping useful resources open.
- Digital monitoring that flags early warning signs
With solutions like onGuard, schools can detect concerning patterns of language and activity linked to bullying, self-harm, or exploitation, giving safeguarding teams timely, actionable insights so they can support pupils before harm escalates.
- Granular social media and app controls
Flexible policies let IT teams limit risky features or platforms during the school day (for example, anonymous chat or certain comment functions) while still enabling curriculum-aligned use of video, research, and collaboration tools.
- Protection on every device, on and off campus
Using nClient, schools and trusts can extend consistent filtering and safeguarding policies to Chromebooks, laptops, and tablets wherever pupils are learning — vital when online bullying often continues beyond the school gates.
- Insightful reporting to inform intervention
Customisable dashboards and reports help leaders spot trends (for example, repeated visits to harmful forums or spikes in abusive search terms), align responses with Anti-Bullying Week priorities, and evidence compliance with safeguarding duties.
Used alongside clear policies, staff training, and pupil voice, Netsweeper becomes part of a joined-up safeguarding framework: not just blocking pages, but helping communities act with empathy, evidence, and confidence.
Final Thoughts
Anti-Bullying Week 2025 is a reminder that every click, comment, share, and policy decision carries power. The goal is not to make pupils afraid of going online, but to ensure the digital spaces they use daily are as safe, fair, and supportive as possible.
By combining:
- a strong anti-bullying culture,
- clear reporting pathways,
- evidence-based education, and
- intelligent safeguarding technology like Netsweeper,
schools and trusts can turn “Power for Good” from a campaign slogan into day-to-day reality.
If your organisation is reviewing its online safety and anti-bullying strategy for 10–14 November and beyond, our team is here to help you build a safer, more supportive digital environment for every learner.