Together, we can stop the bullies...

Sep 11 2007 By Diane Parkes, Birmingham Mail

ONE of parents' biggest fears as their children head off to school in the morning is that their youngster will be the target of bullies.

Schools are working incredibly hard to prevent and stamp out fear in the playground, but bullying still happens to thousands of children every day.

In the past year nearly 2,000 of the 11-16-year-olds calling ChildLine West Midlands wanted to talk about being bullied - one in five of the children calling the helpline.

And what of the many more who have not picked up the phone and may be suffering daily abuse from their fellow pupils?

The best way to stop bullying is to admit it exists, talk about it and encourage children to tell.

This is why, for the third year running the Birmingham Mail and ChildLine have joined forces on our award winning Speak Out Stop Bullying campaign.

We are making free packs of Speak Out Stop Bul-lying stickers and posters available to all schools in our area.

For your free pack simply email us, including the name, address, telephone number of your school and the number of pupils, to entry@mrn.co.uk