Bullying Workshops & Conflict Resolution for Schools, Colleges, Universities and Staff Training
2020 Dreams Bullying Workshops help children and young people recognise bullying, understand the difference between bullying and ordinary conflict, challenge harmful peer behaviour and develop practical skills for responding safely when somebody is being targeted.
Our Bullying Workshops for Schools go beyond telling pupils to “be kind”. Participants explore how bullying works, why power and group dynamics matter, how repeated behaviour can become normalised, what bystanders can do, how online bullying differs from face-to-face conflict and when an issue needs adult or safeguarding support.
The programme is designed for a wide range of audiences and settings, with every session adapted to the age group, safeguarding context and needs of the organisation. We deliver tailored Bullying Workshops for primary and secondary schools, sixth forms, colleges, universities, SEND and SEMH settings, PRUs and alternative provision, charities, youth organisations, secure and residential settings, staff teams, professional groups and workplaces.
The approach is interactive, practical and non-shaming. Pupils are not asked to identify themselves publicly as somebody who has bullied another person or as somebody who has been bullied. Instead, fictional scenarios, group discussion and distancing techniques allow participants to examine power, behaviour, impact, conflict and intervention without turning the workshop into a public investigation of individual pupils.
Core Features of Our Bullying Workshops
- What bullying is and what it is not
- Bullying versus conflict
- Repeated behaviour and imbalance of power
- Physical, verbal, social and relational bullying
- Cyberbullying and online harassment
- Exclusion, rumours and friendship-group bullying
- Peer pressure and group dynamics
- Bystander behaviour and safe intervention
- Conflict resolution and de-escalation
- When mediation is appropriate – and when it is not
- Respect, empathy and healthy peer relationships
- Protected-characteristic bullying and discrimination
- Racist bullying
- Sexual harassment and sexualised bullying
- Bullying linked to SEND, disability or difference
- Appearance-based bullying and body-related comments
- Online group chats, gaming and social-media pile-ons
- Reporting, help-seeking and safeguarding
- Staff Bullying Training for education and professional teams
What Are Bullying Workshops?
Bullying Workshops are structured educational sessions that help participants understand bullying, peer conflict, power, online behaviour, bystander responsibility and routes to support.
There is no single legal definition of bullying in England, but GOV.UK describes bullying as behaviour that is usually repeated, intended to hurt somebody physically or emotionally and often directed at particular groups. It can include physical assault, teasing, threats, name-calling and cyberbullying.
The word usually matters. A serious one-off incident may still require immediate behaviour or safeguarding action even if it does not fit a classic repeated-bullying pattern.
Our workshops therefore avoid reducing every disagreement to “bullying”. Young people learn to ask what is actually happening, whether there is a pattern, whether somebody has less power in the situation, whether they can safely disengage and whether adult help is required.
Bullying or Conflict? Why the Difference Matters
Not every argument is bullying. Friends can disagree, fall out, say something unkind, compete or become angry with each other. Conflict can occur between people with relatively equal power and may sometimes be resolved through communication, compromise or restorative discussion.
Bullying is different when behaviour becomes repeated, targeted or reinforced by an imbalance of power. That imbalance may come from physical strength, popularity, social status, group size, access to private information, online reach, age, confidence or another person’s vulnerability.
The Bullying or Conflict Check
| PATTERN | Is this happening repeatedly? One serious incident can still require action, but repeated targeting is a key warning sign for bullying. |
| POWER | Can both people participate on roughly equal terms? Popularity, group size, age, physical strength, private information and online reach can all create an imbalance. |
| TARGETING | Is somebody being singled out? Bullying may involve persistent humiliation, exclusion, rumours, intimidation, physical behaviour or digital targeting. |
| EXIT | Can the person safely walk away? Online circulation, shared classes, friendship groups or threats can make it difficult to escape. |
| SUPPORT | Does this need adult intervention? Serious, repeated, discriminatory, threatening, sexualised or unsafe behaviour should not be left for pupils to solve alone. |
This distinction also protects pupils from an unhelpful response: asking somebody who is being repeatedly targeted to “just resolve the conflict” with the person bullying them can imply equal responsibility where the power is not equal.
How Common Is Bullying? Current England Data
The latest Department for Education pupil surveys show that bullying remains a significant issue across secondary education and into post-16 settings.
Key Stage 3
In October 2025, 24% of Key Stage 3 pupils reported experiencing some form of bullying in the previous 12 months.
Key Stage 4
In October 2025, 17% of Key Stage 4 pupils reported experiencing some form of bullying in the previous 12 months.
16–19 learners
In the March 2026 survey, 10% of 16–19 pupils and learners said they had been bullied in the previous 12 months.
Bullying follows young people home
Group chats, social media and gaming can extend bullying beyond the classroom, playground or college day.
Different Forms of Bullying
Bullying Workshops should reflect how bullying actually appears in modern peer groups rather than relying only on the traditional image of a physical bully in a playground.
| VERBAL | Name-calling, repeated insults, threats, humiliating jokes, mocking accents, appearance or ability and persistent comments designed to undermine somebody. |
| PHYSICAL | Hitting, pushing, damaging belongings, taking possessions, intimidation, blocking somebody’s movement or using physical presence to frighten them. |
| SOCIAL / RELATIONAL | Deliberate exclusion, friendship manipulation, rumour spreading, humiliation, encouraging others to isolate somebody or turning a group against them. |
| ONLINE | Group-chat exclusion, abusive messages, memes, impersonation, embarrassing posts, threats, pile-ons, gaming harassment and sharing humiliating material. |
| DISCRIMINATORY | Targeting linked to race, disability, religion, sex, sexual orientation or other characteristics may also raise equality, harassment or safeguarding concerns. |
| SEXUALISED | Sexual rumours, unwanted sexual comments, body-based humiliation, image abuse or repeated sexualised behaviour may move beyond bullying into sexual harassment or sexual violence and require a different safeguarding response. |
Peer Groups, Popularity and the Power Behind Bullying
Bullying is often sustained by more people than the pupil directly carrying out the behaviour. A friendship group may provide an audience, laugh along, repeat rumours, forward screenshots or exclude somebody because the socially dominant member expects them to.
This is why our Bullying Workshops examine different peer roles:
- The instigator – starts or directs the behaviour
- The assistant – joins in or helps carry it out
- The amplifier – laughs, likes, forwards or gives the behaviour an audience
- The silent witness – disagrees privately but does nothing
- The defender – interrupts, supports, includes or reports safely
The goal is not to shame pupils into becoming heroes. It is to show that even small choices—refusing to forward something, sitting with an excluded pupil, not laughing, checking in afterwards or telling an adult—can reduce the social reward that keeps bullying going.
Bystander Skills: NOTICE → INTERRUPT → INCLUDE → REPORT → SUPPORT
| NOTICE | Recognise what is happening. Repeated jokes, deliberate exclusion and online pile-ons can be easy to dismiss when a whole group treats them as normal. |
| INTERRUPT | Interrupt safely where appropriate. This might be as simple as not laughing, changing the subject, refusing to forward content or saying that the behaviour has gone too far. |
| INCLUDE | Reduce isolation. Inviting somebody into a group, checking in privately or sitting with them can undermine exclusion as a source of power. |
| REPORT | Know when adult help is needed. Threats, violence, discriminatory incidents, sexual harassment, serious online abuse and repeated targeting should not be left to peers. |
| SUPPORT | Support without taking over. Listen, avoid blame and help the person access an adult, reporting route or safeguarding support where needed. |
Conflict Resolution Skills: Useful, but Not for Every Bullying Situation
Conflict-resolution skills are valuable. Young people need to know how to calm down, communicate, listen, disagree respectfully, negotiate and repair relationships. But conflict resolution should not be used as a blanket response to bullying.
Where two pupils have relatively equal power and both want to resolve a disagreement, restorative discussion or mediation may be helpful. Where one pupil is intimidated, repeatedly targeted or afraid of consequences, putting both pupils into an equal mediation process can be inappropriate.
The CALM Conflict Framework
| C — COOL DOWN | Pause before reacting. Strong emotion can make a disagreement escalate quickly. |
| A — ACCOUNT | Each person explains what happened from their perspective without interruption or humiliation. |
| L — LISTEN | Identify what each person needs, what was misunderstood and what impact the behaviour had. |
| M — MOVE FORWARD | Agree a realistic next step: apology, boundary, changed behaviour, separation, support or adult follow-up. |
CALM is for manageable conflict, not serious safeguarding harm. Violence, threats, discriminatory harassment, sexual harassment or entrenched bullying may require formal procedures rather than pupil-led resolution.
Cyberbullying, Group Chats and Online Pile-Ons
Cyberbullying can follow a pupil beyond the school gates and into evenings, weekends and home life. Screenshots can be copied, posts can reach a large audience quickly and a single message may be repeatedly reshared by other people.
Our Bullying Workshops can explore abusive or threatening messages, deliberate exclusion from group chats, humiliating memes, impersonation, fake accounts, gaming harassment, rumour spreading, pile-ons, private screenshots, recording somebody to embarrass them, blocking, reporting and preserving evidence.
For wider digital safeguarding, our Online Safety Workshops cover online influence, grooming, privacy, harmful content, sextortion, AI deepfakes and wider digital risks.
Bullying Linked to Race, Disability, Religion, Sex or Sexual Orientation
Some bullying focuses on a characteristic or perceived characteristic. The behaviour may involve racism, disability-based abuse, homophobic language, religious hostility, sexism or another form of discriminatory harassment.
Young people need to understand that these incidents should not automatically be minimised as ordinary peer conflict. The setting may need to consider behaviour, safeguarding and equality duties together.
Where racial prejudice is the main issue, our dedicated Racism Workshops explore stereotypes, racial bullying, online racism, bystander behaviour and inclusion in greater depth.
Sexual Harassment, Sexualised Bullying and Boundary Violations
Sexualised behaviour should not be buried inside a general anti-bullying response when it raises a more serious safeguarding concern. Sexual rumours, unwanted sexual comments, body-based humiliation, intimate-image abuse, unwanted touching or repeated sexual pressure may constitute sexual harassment or sexual violence depending on the circumstances.
Our Bullying Workshops help pupils recognise when a situation has moved beyond teasing or conflict and needs to be reported. Schools, colleges and universities requiring specialist delivery should use our Sexual Harassment Workshops, which cover consent, sexual violence, online harassment, bystander skills and safeguarding in greater depth.
Healthy Relationships, Friendship and Respect
The positive alternative to bullying is not simply “no bullying”. Young people need practical models of healthy friendship and peer relationships.
Strong relationships include respect, boundaries, trust, honest communication, the ability to disagree, freedom from humiliation and the ability to end or change a friendship without threats or social punishment.
This is why Bullying Workshops connect naturally with our Healthy Relationships Workshops. That programme explores friendships, boundaries, communication, peer pressure, controlling behaviour, consent and respectful relationships in greater depth.
Bullying and Mental Wellbeing
Being bullied can affect concentration, confidence, attendance, relationships and emotional wellbeing. Pupils may feel embarrassed, angry, isolated or anxious about what will happen next.
The workshop does not diagnose mental-health conditions or imply that everybody who experiences bullying will develop one. Instead, pupils learn that emotional impact should be taken seriously and that support is available.
Bullying, RSHE 2026 and Respectful Relationships
The revised statutory Relationships and Sex Education guidance is for introduction from 1 September 2026. Secondary pupils should understand different types of bullying, including cyberbullying, the impact of bullying, the responsibilities of bystanders to report it and how and where to get help.
The same guidance connects bullying prevention with healthy friendships, respect, boundaries, stereotypes, equality, sexual harassment and safe online behaviour. This supports a broader approach in which bullying education sits alongside relationships, safeguarding and digital resilience rather than being delivered as a one-off slogan campaign.
Bullying and KCSIE 2026
KCSIE 2025 remains in force until 31 August 2026. KCSIE 2026 comes into force on 1 September 2026. Bullying can overlap with child-on-child abuse, harassment, violence, online harm, discrimination and sexual harassment.
Where behaviour raises a safeguarding concern, the response should move beyond a classroom conflict-resolution exercise and follow the setting’s safeguarding procedures. External Bullying Workshops can support prevention and pupil understanding, but they do not replace the DSL, behaviour policy, risk assessment or statutory safeguarding responsibilities.
Schools and the Law on Bullying
State schools in England must have a behaviour policy that includes measures to prevent all forms of bullying among pupils. Schools also have anti-discrimination duties and must act to prevent unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation.
Some bullying behaviour may also be criminal, including violence, assault, theft, repeated harassment or intimidation and hate crime. Pupils do not need to become legal experts; they need to understand that some incidents require immediate adult, safeguarding or police involvement rather than informal peer resolution.
WHOLE-SETTING MESSAGE
A workshop can strengthen understanding and skills, but effective anti-bullying practice also depends on consistent behaviour expectations, trusted reporting routes, staff confidence, support for targeted pupils, proportionate responses and leadership attention to patterns.
Bullying Workshop Overview
Bullying Workshops by Age Group and Setting
Primary School Bullying Workshops
Primary Bullying Workshops focus on friendship, fairness, inclusion, repeated unkind behaviour, personal boundaries, speaking up, trusted adults and the difference between a disagreement and somebody being repeatedly targeted.
Bullying Workshops for Secondary Schools
Bullying Workshops for Secondary Schools can explore more complex peer dynamics including social status, friendship-group conflict, cyberbullying, online pile-ons, discriminatory language, rumours, sexualised bullying, retaliation, bystander behaviour and the pressure to join in.
Bullying Workshops for Sixth Forms, Colleges and Universities
Older learners may experience bullying through friendship groups, societies, halls, group chats, workplaces, placements, online communities or professional environments. Post-16 Bullying Workshops can therefore include harassment, discrimination, digital conduct, social exclusion, professional boundaries and institutional reporting routes.
Bullying Workshops for SEND, SEMH, PRUs and Alternative Provision
Bullying Workshops can be adapted using clearer language, visual prompts, concrete scenarios, repetition, smaller groups and additional processing time. Adaptation is based on the actual learner group rather than assumptions about diagnosis.
Staff Bullying Training
Staff Bullying Training is available for teachers, DSLs, pastoral teams, senior leaders, youth workers, college and university staff, charities and professional teams.
Staff sessions can cover bullying versus conflict, repetition and power, cyberbullying, discriminatory harassment, racist bullying, sexualised bullying, SEND-related targeting, bystander culture, reporting and recording, restorative approaches and their limits, KCSIE 2026, RSHE 2026 and whole-setting anti-bullying culture.
For bespoke CPD, INSET and professional delivery, see our Staff Bullying Training.
Related Bullying, Relationships, Discrimination and Online Safety Workshops
Racism WorkshopsRacist bullying, stereotypes, prejudice, online racism, bystanders, safeguarding and inclusion.
Healthy Relationships WorkshopsFriendships, boundaries, trust, communication, peer pressure and respectful relationships.
Sexual Harassment WorkshopsSexualised comments, unwanted behaviour, consent, sexual violence, online harassment and safeguarding.
Online Safety WorkshopsOnline influence, privacy, harmful content, harassment, grooming, sextortion and digital safeguarding.
Staff Bullying TrainingBullying, conflict, online behaviour, discrimination, reporting, safeguarding and whole-setting response.
Bullying Workshops FAQ
Book Bullying Workshops for Your School or Organisation
Bring Bullying Workshops to your primary school, secondary school, sixth form, college, university, youth service, charity, specialist setting or professional team. Tell us the age group, participant numbers, location, preferred dates and the bullying, conflict, online or safeguarding concerns you most want the programme to address.
We can deliver standalone Bullying Workshops for Schools, assemblies, targeted groups, full development days or Staff Bullying Training. Programmes can also be combined with Racism Workshops, Healthy Relationships Workshops, Sexual Harassment Workshops or Online Safety Workshops.
Bullying, Behaviour, RSHE and Safeguarding References
- GOV.UK – Bullying at School: Bullying – a Definition
- Department for Education – Parent, Pupil and Learner Voice: October 2025
- Department for Education – Parent, Pupil and Learner Voice: March 2026
- Department for Education – Relationships and Sex Education (Secondary)
- Department for Education – Keeping Children Safe in Education