First ever anti-bullying champion to be appointed In Derry

The Anti-Bullying Forum, organised and led by Black North Productions, held at the Guildhall, proved to be a wonderful success.

The event brought together key stakeholders, including school principals, pupils, politicians, religious leaders and the NI Education Authority, plus many concerned parents/guardians, all with a common agenda, namely tackling bullying in our schools. 

Black North Productions’ founder, Joseph McCarthy, announced that Derry will have the first ever anti-bullying champion in place at a local secondary school by the end of the year.

This is a first, not only for the city, but Northern Ireland and indeed the whole of Ireland and news of this was greeted with a round of applause by the capacity crowd in attendance.

Black North Productions are an independent, not-for-profit film and theatre production company based in Derry who focus on challenging and highlighting social issues that harm people in our communities.

A key component of the forum was showing an extract from the first of a series of films produced by Black North Productions highlighting the impact of bullying in schools and offering an empowered and integrated framework for how bullying could be tackled.

The first video entitled “Summary Justice” is available on YouTube. 

Every secondary school in Derry, Strabane and Limavady was represented at the forum and both Bishop of Derry Donal McKeown and the Reverend Paul Linkens from the Presbyterian Church spoke passionately about the need to stamp out bullying in our schools.

Retired and current principals spoke of their experience in dealing with a wide variety of bullying types and local politicians added their opinions on how best to eradicate bullying.

Strabane Academy’s Head Girl, Joanna delivered an excellent speech on the sterling works both she and her fellow anti-bullying ambassadors do at their school and this was followed by a very passionate speech by Kieran Dallas detailing his extremely negative experiences whilst at secondary school. 

Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council, Councillor Sandra Duffy thanked everyone for their hard work and dedication in tackling bullying in schools and praised the ongoing efforts of Black North productions to have more anti-bullying champions appointed to local schools.

Black North Productions will continue to forge forward under the leadership of its founder Joseph McCarthy to shine a very bright light on bullying in schools and indeed other social issues which degrade the lives of people in our communities. 

This will now become an annual event and no doubt many more interested parties from beyond the city will become involved in what promises to be, the biggest advancement in preventing bullying in schools in recent times.