Rebecca Gray and Reese Gray say they see bullying almost every time they walk down a corridor at St Paul’s Academy.
The S6 pupils have both been taunted and called names, and Reese says a boy used to throw things at her and shoved her.
Tola Bello, in S4, has been subjected to racism.
Ellie Thomson, S6, has been ridiculed because of the colour of her hair.
But they are among a team of children at the Dundee school standing up to bullying and helping others who fall victim.
St Paul’s Academy anti-bullying group was highlighted in a city-wide summit this week to raise awareness and hear from young people as secondary schools develop anti-bullying policies.
Pupils, parents, teachers and others heard how one in three Dundee pupils from P5 to S3 who took part in a Scottish Government survey said they had been bullied over the last year.
Yet during 2021/22 city schools recorded only 164 bullying incidents – suggesting the vast majority go unreported.
But the summit also heard about work like that of the St Paul’s pupils, who are taking the matter into their own hands.
St Paul’s Academy anti-bullying ambassdors
Fellow pupils anxious that turning to a teacher will exacerbate bullying or they won’t be taken seriously can instead seek help from an anti-bullying ambassador.
Ambassadors help those responsible understand the impact of their behaviour and keep an eye out for those at the receiving end.
Reese said: “It is making a difference, but it’s not enough; we need to do more.
“There are not many times you walk down the corridor without seeing people fighting or pushing each other into lockers.
“Sometimes they are laughing about it, but the younger ones especially they get really upset.
“Just walking down the corridor, people will shout and call you names, say things about your appearance.”
Rebecca said bullying behaviour was not always recognised as such, even by teachers, and therefore left unchallenged.
She said: “A lot of things people do, they think they are just having a laugh and a joke, but people do actually get really affected by it.”
Tola revealed how he had suffered racist bullying, and said: “It doesn’t make you want to come to school if you get bullied.”
He became an anti-bullying ambassador to help others with similar experiences.
As did Ellie. She said: “I had a lot of name calling because I’m ginger, and I didn’t always fit in when I was younger.
“As I’ve grown up I’ve found groups of people where I do fit in, and that I’m able to help with issues I feel strongly about, like bullying.
“From personal experience, it’s not a nice feeling.
“Seeing younger ones affected shows we definitely need to do more.”
Not everything you see as a joke is a joke; it can really hurt people.”
Ellie Thomson, S6
Although the anti-bullying group only launched late last year, Ellie thinks it has already made a difference – although not enough.
A video it produced explains the types of behaviour which constitute bullying and has been shown to all pupils.
She said: “On the back of that, I’ve had younger people coming up to me and saying ‘I didn’t know that was bullying, I didn’t know saying things on social media was bullying, I thought was just a jokes’.
“We’re able to educate people that not everything you see as a joke is a joke; it can really hurt people.”
Representatives from schools across Dundee attended the summit, and Ellie hopes they will take the lessons learned back to their own schools.
She said: “We need places people feel safe and to ensure that bullies don’t get away with what they do currently.”
Lorraine Glass, interim director of Scotland’s anti-bullying service respectme, attended the summit and praised the work of the St Paul’s pupils.
She said: “Young people find it much easier to relate to their peers.
“When children are bullied they lose a sense of agency and control over their lives and when it’s an adult that responds it’s sometimes not as effective as we would want it to be.
“For young people, handing over more control to an adult who could potentially make it worse is a real dilemma.”
Having anti-bullying ambassadors like Rebecca, Reese, Ellie and Tola can, she said, allow young people to discuss their experience with someone perhaps “more senior in the school heirarchy” without a “big formal intervention and feeling it spiral out of control”.
Dundee City Council children, families and communities depute convener Roisin Smith said schools can never be complacent about bullying.
She said: “The voices of children, young people and families are very important to us.
“Schools develop their own policies using the main council template, so it is important that we listen to the voices of our young people as they do so, and that we all never stop learning and work hard to protect our young people.”
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