Follow along to find out what our brilliant Young ABA group did in 2025!
Meeting 1 : Thursday 20th March 2025
Our first Young ABA Meeting of the year, which took place in March, was both productive and fun! We kicked off the day with a few ice breaker games where the cohort shared their anti-bullying superpowers - empathy, spreading kindness, having an open mind, and many more. We then collectively created a group contract for the rest of the year.
For the first session of the day, we conducted Anti-Bullying Basics training for the cohort, which covered the definition of bullying, its prevalence and impact, the roles individuals play in making bullying a group behaviour, and more.
The Wall of Change
We then had our interactive Wall of Change activity, where the young people used post-it notes to build an insightful and colourful display. They explored what aspects of anti-bullying they are most interested in, and what makes them want to take action! This powerful wall of change will be pivotal in shaping our YABA discussions and activities through the year.
For the final leg of our meeting, the cohort provided some fantastic input on our Anti-Bullying Week 2025 theme and logo!
We are excited to hear many more of their brilliant ideas over the course of the year
Young ABA: Meeting 1 Reel
YABA at Ministerial Roundtable
In March, some of the YABA cohort took part took part in the young people's roundtable discussion on bullying with Minister Stephen Morgan MP at the Department for Education.
The group was articulate and passionate, and shared their experiences of bullying in schools, its impact, and what schools can do to better prevent and respond to bullying, both online and offline. They spoke about the importance of educating young people and their parents about bullying and how to recognise and prevent it; explained how targeted support for both the target and perpetrators of bullying is essential; discussed the impact of social media; and lots more. Thank you again to the brilliant young people who took part
Meeting 2: Tuesday 29th April
Our second meeting was held online, and we were joined by both the England and NI YABA cohorts. We kicked off the session with a fun ice breaker activity to get to know each other better - covering everything from opinions on pineapple on pizza to favourite social media platforms and more.
Childnet, an online safety charity, then delivered an extremely relevant and interactive session on Generative AI as a form of bullying and online sexual harassment. The cohort shared their brilliant input which will help inform Childnet’s work in the area.
We then moved on to talk about Anti-Bullying Week 2025: Power for Good. The Young ABA members shared their excitement for the theme and logo, and we cannot wait to hear about the great ideas they come up with as we continue planning for this year’s Anti-Bullying Week.
The cohort then participated in social media training, led by a member of our very own ABA Team, where we explored the key elements of engaging social media content, and showed the group impactful examples, some created by previous YABA cohorts.
We look forward to our next YABA meetings which will be held in June for our NI cohort, and in person in July for our England cohort!
Meeting 3 : Tuesday 8th July 2025
With preparations for Anti-Bullying Week 2025 well underway, we were delighted have our third meeting with the Young ABA cohort. We met in person for day filled with activities and discussions where the YABA members shared their creative ideas for the week and more.
The day started with our fun ice breakers as usual, and it was heart-warming to see the group strengthen their connections and begin to work even more effectively together.
We believe that our resources need to be shaped by the voices that matter the most, hence, our first session of the day was dedicated to collecting feedback from the YABA members on our toolkit for supporting young people who bully.
The cohort was then split into smaller groups to participate in a set of activities – a thought-provoking podcast, an interactive session where they shared their social media campaign ideas for Anti-Bullying week: Power for Good, and finally, the filming of the Anti-Bullying Week Poem beautifully read out by the talented young people
Anti-Bullying Week 2025 Poem read out by the YABA cohort
Through these activities, the group discussed a range of topics from what it meant to be an upstander in bullying situations, to how social media platforms can support people who want to speak out against bullying.
Young ABA - Meeting 3
As we inch closer to Anti-Bullying Week, we look forward to engaging with and seeing all the contributions YABA and other young people will make during the week!