It’s not every day an up and coming celebrity pays a visit to your school. For Year 7 and 8 students at Woodham Academy this day came last week when students had the opportunity to spend an hour with YouTube star and acoustic singer, Rich Cottell. Rich, who has a social media following of over 110,000 people, has embarked on an anti-bullying tour, visiting schools around the UK for the last 12 months. The tour uses music and humour to discuss the tough subject of online bullying. Online bullying, also known as cyber bullying, is when an individual or a group of people upset, humiliate or hurt another person via the internet or digital technology. This includes emails, social networks, gaming, app, chat rooms and many more digital networks. Alongside his management company, YellowBrick Music, Rich has been working with hundreds of students every day to communicate the impact of online bullying, The hour long sessions are designed to be engaging and something that the students can relate to.
The sessions are fun and encourage students to come out of their comfort zone, but they also touch on modern types of bullying; cyber bullying. Students discussed how such bullying takes place online, how to report it and who to and the affects their actions can have on other people on the internet. Rich also discussed how to stay safe online by keeping your profiles private and only accepting requests from those that you know. During the sessions the students were wowed with a performance by Rich and even had the opportunity to sing alongside him before taking part in the Mannequin Challenge – to see the Woodham Academy Mannequin Challenge visit Woodham Academy’s Facebook page: woodhamacademy. The students were left to think about what they share online and how they use social networking sites.
Rich explained, ‘Think about what you are posting. Would you like the whole world to see the photo or status you are about to post? If the answer is no then don’t post it.’ If you are concerned about online bullying or would like someone to talk to, visit www. childnet.com/young-people. If you are a victim of online bullying you can follow these steps; Block the people that causing distress. All social networks have the facility to block people and phone numbers can be blocked on your phone too. Keep your profiles private. Don’t openly give out your mobile number, email address of profile links to people you don’t know. Check your privacy settings. You can control the information that is seen by those you are not connected to by looking in the settings section on your social networks. Save messages. If you are receiving unpleasant messages, save any evidence.
Take a screenshot so you can explain what is happening. Don’t reply as retaliation can often make the situation worse. Report it! Don’t deal with this on your own. There are many people you can speak to about bullying and seek advice from including family, friends, teachers and websites and hotlines such as childnet, childline and bullying.co.uk.
