Kidsline Join Forces With NZ Knights To ¡¥Kick Bullying Out Of Schools¡¦
Kidsline and the NZ Knights Football Club today launched a ground breaking community programme that will tackle head on
a growing issue in New Zealand society.
The two organizations have joined forces and placed the destructive social issue of bullying at the heart of a
comprehensive and market leading community based programme. In a campaign called ¡¥Kick Bullying Out Of Schools¡¦, the
Knights and Kidsline will reach into each and every primary and intermediate school in New Zealand with advice, resource
material, a dedicated website www.kickbullyingout.org.nz and practical ways of addressing the bullying issue.
Kidsline Manager Richard Taggart is enthused about the partnership and the ability to change patterns of behaviour that
are impacting daily on New Zealand society.
¡§Kidsline has been addressing the issue of bullying since we began 18 years ago. Our teenage counselors ¡V known as
Buddies to our callers ¡V each year talk to thousands of children who are being bullied, are worried about a friend or
are even bullies themselves.
¡§The scale of his issue has never been truly understood by most people. If bullying was considered a public health
issue it would be described as a pandemic. There is a real opportunity to engage kids, parents and schools in a dialogue
about how to tackle this issue.
¡§Through the Knights and the popularity of football, Kidsline will help get this message out to many more kids. It¡¦s
great to have at our side high profile professional sportspeople, many of whom will have their own experience of
bullying to relate to.¡¨
Knights director of marketing Simon Kozak explained the significance of the ¡¥Kick Bullying Out Of Schools¡¦ initiative.
¡§This is not a fundraising exercise; it is about making a difference in our local community. Anyone reading the papers
or watching the news in recent months will appreciate the severity of the bullying problem. Kids are literally dying in
extreme cases and it is time the issue was tackled.
¡§The Knights are committed to a comprehensive approach to the campaign and will work closely with Kidsline to ensure
that the right message is delivered to the kids, teachers and the community at large. Football is the number one game of
choice in New Zealand for children under 17 and the upcoming World Cup will capture the imagination of every New
Zealander, just as it will billions around the world. We must take advantage of that popularity for the good of our
community.
¡§The Knights is the first professional sporting franchise to place such a social issue at the very heart of a community
programme and our relationship with our commercial partners and fans. When we are in schools we will talk about the
Knights Code, we have created a website dedicated to the campaign, our players will be empowered to help kids that ask
questions, our match days will reflect the campaign and we are creating and delivering resource material for delivery
into 5,000 schools nationwide.
Knights Manager and father of two Paul Nevin addressed the gathered media at the launch and made it clear that his staff
and players will commit time and energy to the cause.
¡§We are in a position to communicate to teachers, children and their families through the popularity of the game we
play. Football is renowned worldwide for taking on social issues and making a difference. Players and the coaching staff
will endeavour to do just that with regards bullying in our schools.¡¨
The ground breaking campaign also has the support of the FFA, with head of operations Matt Carroll right behind the
campaign and the Knights.
¡§The FFA is fully supportive of the "Kick Bullying Out of Schools" Community Programme that is being partnered by the
New Zealand Knights. We congratulate the New Zealand Knights on their initiative to champion this important social issue
by using the global popularity of football.
"The FFA wishes the New Zealand Knights and Kidsline every success with this partnership."
North Shore City Mayor and former police inspector, George Wood, is praising the beautiful game for putting the boot
into bullying.
¡§The Knights and the A-League are providing the sporting leadership on this issue that¡¦s long overdue. Like world
governing body FIFA¡¦s clampdown on racism in Europe, football has once again shown the way in tackling a growing
problem in our community.
¡§As mayor I¡¦m proud of our North Shore-based franchise and will be watching this initiative closely,¡¨ Mr Wood says.
A full media kit including an electronic version of the launch presentation is available from the NZ Knights by emailing
team@knightsfc.com with contact details.
Key Tools in the fight to ¡¥Kick Bullying Out Of Schools.¡¦
www.kickbullyingout.org.nz
A website has been commissioned and designed to offer advice and assistance to anyone linked to bullying. The site will
include resource material for teachers; advice for parents, kids, teachers and anyone involved in a bullying situation;
downloads; competitions; and links to other helpful sites (kidsline etc).
Knights Code
The NZ Knights in association with Kidsline have produced the Knights Code on bullying. This code will feature in
resource material and form the basis of school presentations by players and coaches during the Football in the Community
programme.
Resource Material
The Knights will produce in association with Kidsline schools resource packs and deliver to 5,000 schools nationwide.
Packs will include posters, caps, rulers, Knights Code, stickers and information packs, (samples in media kit).
Knights as Ambassadors
The NZ Knights will discuss the Knights Code during all school visits and presentations. They will be in a position to
offer advice to anyone involved in bullying and make referrals to Kidsline. NZ Knights players will attend Kidsline
events and functions.
Involve Third Party Partners
The Knights will include high profile third party sponsors and commercial partners in the campaign. Discussions are
underway with potential partners.
Media Leveraging
The Knights will utilize media campaigns with partners such as The Radio Network and Sky TV to highlight the campaign
and increase awareness.
Match Days
The Knights will introduce mascots (one per player) on match days and once again highlight the issue and the 0800
Kidsline number. Signage at North Harbour Stadium will promote the Kidsline 0800 number.
Ongoing PR
The Knights will embark on an ongoing PR campaign to highlight the issues and the solutions offered.
The Knights Code
The code says¡K What this means is¡K
Be a Team Player Bullying usually happens because people want to exclude others. If we can accept other people for who
they are and include them, we can stop bullying from happening.
Don¡¦t Ignore Bullying If you see someone in your class or school being bullied, don¡¦t look the other way and ignore it
¡V tell someone. Let the person being bullied know you¡¦re on their side. Let the bully know that what they are doing is
not OK.
If you¡¦re being bullied, you shouldn¡¦t have to put up with it. Bullying is not OK, so don¡¦t just let it happen. Take
action by¡K
Tell someone you trust first Let someone you trust know that you are being bullied ¡V the sooner the better. You don¡¦t
need to feel ashamed or embarrassed about being bullied, but you do need to let someone else know. If you¡¦re not sure
who to tell first, you could call a Kidsline Buddy.
Ask for help You don¡¦t have to tackle bullying alone ¡V ask a friend, teacher, parent for their help. Keep asking for
help if things don¡¦t work out the first time. Remember ¡V you don¡¦t have to put up with it.
Don¡¦t be a bully No one likes to be bullied. Being a bully back to bullies doesn¡¦t solve the problem. If you are
bullying someone else, ask for help from an adult you trust.
If you need help or assistance in any way shape or form, phone Kidsline on
0800 kidsline
0800 543 75463
Key Perspectives on Bullying in New Zealand
„X 585,000 children in New Zealand aged between 5 and 14, as of March 2006
New Zealand Statistics projection
„X 1 in 3 of all Kidsline callers are dealing with bullying, mostly as victims of bullying.
Kidsline call statistics 2002-6, Kidsline call trends 2002-6.
„X In any one month, an estimated 1 in 4 NZ kids are victims of bullying - 146,250 kids aged 5 ¡V 14. Standing shoulder
to shoulder they would stretch from Wellington to Auckland.
Compiled trend of results found in overseas and local studies
„X By the time they sit their first national exams (NCEA Level 1) more than 3 out of 4 New Zealand kids will have been
bullied at some point - 450,000 children aged 5 ¡V 14.
Compiled trend of results found in overseas and local studies
„X On average, one child in NZ is being bullied every second ¡V there are 60 instances of bullying in NZ every minute of
the school day.
During the eight and a half minutes it will take me to present this information, 500 children will have been bullied in
New Zealand schools.
By the end of one hour, there will have been over 3,500 instances of bullying ¡Vthose kids standing shoulder-to-shoulder
would stretch the length of over 12 soccer fields.
Compiled trend of results found in overseas and local studies
„X 1 in 10 kids have missed one or more days of school in the last month to avoid bullying at school.
On average, 2,500 New Zealand children didn¡¦t come to school today because they are fearful of being bullied ¡V three
times the total roll of this intermediate school*
*Murray¡¦s Bay Intermediate, approx roll 800
„X 1 in 5 admit to being a bully at some point or encouraging bullying behaviour ¡V approx 117,000 children aged 5 ¡V
14. Half (1 in 10) were bullying once a week or more.
Compiled trend of results found in overseas and local studies
„X 85% of kids calling Kidsline about being bullied had tried ¡¥ignoring it¡¦ or ¡¥walking away¡¦. Even where these
strategies had an effect, they had not stopped the bullying.
Kidsline call trends 2002-6.
„X 70% of kids calling Kidsline about being bullied had told a teacher at school about being bullied. Action taken by
the teacher hadn¡¦t stopped the bullying.
Commonly these children told Kidsline Buddies that the teacher ¡¥didn¡¦t care¡¦ or wasn¡¦t doing enough about the
bullying.
Kidsline call trends 2002-6.
„X Half of all kids calling Kidsline about bullying were scared or embarrassed about telling their parents or family
that they were being bullied at school. This rose to 75% amongst boys.
Kidsline call trends 2002-6.
„X Although some children are bullied throughout their school years, kids can experience bullying for the first time at
any age. More than half of all victims are bullied for the first time when they reach intermediate school (Year 7, age
11) or high school (Year 9, age 13).
Kidsline call statistics 2002-6, Kidsline call trends 2002-6.
„X The rate of bullying between girls and boys calling Kidsline is identical. The historical and international trend of
girls favouring verbal bullying and boys favouring physical bullying is becoming less pronounced, particularly with a
rise in electronic bullying.
Kidsline call statistics 2002-6, Kidsline call trends 2002-6.
„X 95% of Kidsline callers experiencing bullying were initially bullied mostly or only at school. In many cases, this
bullying then extended outside school grounds and hours.
Kidsline call statistics 2002-6, Kidsline call trends 2002-6.
„X The comprehensive UK ¡¥Mobile Bullying Study¡¦ (2005) found 1 in 5 young people had been bullied by text, email or
internet chat. Half of that bullying happened during school hours.
Kidsline believes the recent saturation of mobile phone ownership among pre-teens in New Zealand will result in a
similar rate of electronic bullying, specifically text bullying.
www.nch.org.uk, Kidsline call trends 2002-6.
„X 28% of UK young people did not tell anyone they were being text bullied. Only 24% told a parent and 14% told a
teacher.
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