After a year marked by significant events—disruption, division, and destruction—it is now more pertinent than ever to explicitly teach and discuss the importance of embracing and accepting differences.

Anti-Bullying Week and the International Day for Tolerance are two key events that can be embedded in your setting’s calendar and used as springboards to relaunch, enhance, and spotlight your anti-bullying strategy.

Anti-Bullying Week:

Anti-Bullying Week, organised by the Anti-Bullying Alliance, will take place from Monday 11th to Friday 15th November and is now entering its 20th year. Celebrated across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, the 2024 theme, Choose Respect, is particularly timely and relevant in today's climate.

The Anti-Bullying Alliance has produced a launch video outlining this year’s theme and highlighting the drive to “empower children and young people not to resort to bullying even when we disagree, and remind adults to lead by example online and offline.”

Resources – Primary and secondary school packs of resources have been produced for schools to utilise during this week and beyond. Resources include assembly ideas, lesson plans, and cross-curricular activities.

International Day for Tolerance:

“Let us recognise the mounting threat posed by those who strive to divide, and let us pledge to forge a path defined by dialogue, social cohesion, and mutual understanding.”

The United Nations’ (UN) International Day for Tolerance is annually observed on 16th November to educate people about the need for tolerance in society and to help them understand the negative effects of intolerance. The International Day for Tolerance was officially launched in 1996 following the United Nations Year for Tolerance in 1995.

No official resources will be provided, so settings and communities are encouraged to tailor their marking of the day to best suit their needs. However, you can find activities, lesson plans, and assembly ideas on various teacher resource websites.

UNAI Quiz: International Day for Tolerance | United Nations – a short quiz produced that could be used a lesson or assembly prompt

If you're participating in any of the events mentioned above, please share your experience on social media and tag HFL (X: @HfLWellbeing, Instagram: @hfl_education). We would love to share and celebrate the fantastic work you are doing!

Please contact the HFL Education Wellbeing Team – wellbeing@hfleducation.org for additional support, advice and guidance around any aspects of your schools anti-bullying strategy.

My earliest memory of exploring dough was probably not dough at all but left over pastry from when my nan made jam tarts or mince pies.  Squashing and squeezing the strips of pastry, making ‘snakes’ and rolling the off-cuts into a ball - little did I know that I was developing hand-eye co-ordination, strengthening the muscles in my fingers and being imaginative! 

Using dough in the environment, whether commercially made or created by children and practitioners, provides many opportunities for children to develop not only their fine motor skills, but skills of communication, resilience, collaboration, self-regulation, and problem solving.  Fine motor control and precision helps with hand-eye co-ordination which is later linked to early literacy.’ (Development Matters, July 2021) 

Staying safe - Flour is a raw food

In April 2024, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) issued guidance on reducing the risk of becoming ill when using flour, as it is a raw product and can carry bacteria. One of the recommendations was to heat treat flour before using to make playdough. This guidance was updated in August 2024, details can be found here and explains the risks of consuming uncooked flour ‘It is particularly important for vulnerable people, such as young children, those with compromised immune systems and older people, to follow this advice because their immune system may not be able to fight off infections as easily. They should also take care when handling flour and flour products and follow the advice on the 4Cs:  cooking, cleaning, chilling and avoiding cross contamination.  

FSA advice for using flour for play activities recommends ‘When using uncooked flour or flour products not intended to be eaten e.g. dough for crafts and play, you may wish to use this advice to support how you manage the risks during these activities.’ In short, practitioners should decide the risk associated for children in their care and following FSA guidance if a risk is identified.

A final word of caution, traditional playdough should not be eaten due to the high salt content – it is poisonous to animals.   

Learning through play

During their play with dough, children often talk about and replay their life experiences and through interactions, adults can introduce new vocabulary and develop understanding of key concepts. Often children will be observed repeating play scenarios with dough – a firm favourite, is making cakes, so it’s a good idea to consider the skill development in dough and what opportunities you could provide to teach a different skill, for example, how to use a knife and fork and cut the dough into small pieces.  Additionally, opportunities to learn about the world around them including life cycles for plants and animals by modelling, for example, frog spawn, tadpoles, froglets and frogs.

There are so many mathematical opportunities including measuring, weighing and capacity that can be taught and opportunities to learn about scientific processes and observe changes of state.  In my experience, children are very motivated to make the dough and there is something wonderful about getting a little bit messy!   

Sometimes playdough can become crumbly after a day or so, I would recommend putting it in a tough spot to prevent the carpet and shoes becoming encrusted.  Children will need the resources to tidy up after playing, so providing dustpans and brushes, brooms, and cloths to promote independence and is a great activity to develop fine and gross motor skills. 

A Basic Recipe

This recipe is the basis for good playdough that will last a few days.  You could consider making dough in advance and storing in a fridge or even freezing it.  The dough won’t freeze completely, due to the salt content, but can be used from frozen to provide an additional cutting challenge.

Traditional Playdough

• 2 cups of plain flour
• 1 tbsp oil
• 2 cups of water
• 1 cup of salt
• 1 tsp of cream of tartar

A basic playdough recipe should be the staple of the EYFS classroom after which the enhancements are almost limitless. The addition of textures, smells, colour, and resources to entice children to be imaginative need to be available to support learning and follow interests.

Preparation is the key, so I have listed some ways to enhance plain dough.

• Texture – add rice to develop a pincer grip. Using forefinger and thumb to remove grains of rice from dough requires persistence
• Colour – add natural colour with turmeric or commercially available dyes for a more vibrant colour
• Smell – add herbs and spices, vinegar, and lemon to provide a natural sensory experience – rosemary leaves is one of my favourite smells.  I liked to challenge the children to guess the smell applying all their previous knowledge to identify the odour – vinegar was always popular and provoked lots of conversation about fish and chips!
• Enhancements – collect small pieces of straw or match sticks to represent candles, cake cases, small sticks, and ribbons to press into the dough
• Something different – try swapping out some of the flour for coco powder, which looks inviting and fills the classroom with the smell of chocolate
• Gluten Free – using white rice flour and corn flour, you can make gluten free playdough. It is a slightly different texture to wheat flour dough and is an alternative if gluten is a substance that you would like to avoid in your setting
• Salt Free – Salt and cream of tartar help playdough to last longer.  If you would prefer a salt free option, mix flour, oil and water then spent time kneading until a dough is formed 

If you try some of the suggestions above in your setting, we’d love to hear from you.

References

Handling flour and flour products safely | Food Standards Agency
E. coli | Food Standards Agency

As the first half term draws to a close, I find myself looking ahead to the changing weather, the return of hats and scarves, and the arrival of festive celebrations. I can't think of the Autumn term without recalling the famous rhyme drilled into my memory in primary school: "Remember, remember the 5th of November." I also reflect on Armistice Day, 11th November, which this year marks 105 years since the end of World War I.

These two deeply ingrained historical dates, commemorating events separated by over 300 years but marked just six days apart, share an undeniable commonality. They remind us of the consequences of intolerance, loss, and the destructive nature of plots, schemes, and wars—the scars of which endure through time. However, they also inspire hope—hope that we can learn from the mistakes of the past, and hope that by being kind, tolerant, accepting, and embracing of differences, our society can become happier and more peaceful.

Is it a coincidence that November is also the month when we mark and celebrate anti-bullying events – Anti-bullying week and the International Day for Tolerance? Perhaps. But for me, there is a powerful connection between remembering the past and striving for a better future.

According to the Office for National Statistics, in their report bullying and online experiences among children in England and Wales: year ending March 2023 an estimated 1,544,000 children aged 10 to 15 years (34.9%) experienced in-person bullying behaviour, and 847,000 children (19.1%) experienced online bullying behaviour in the last year. While there was no significant difference in the estimated number of girls and boys who experienced in-person bullying, the prevalence of online bullying was significantly higher for girls (486,000; 22.5%) than boys (361,000; 16.0%).

Locally, data from suspensions and permanent exclusions in England reveals that while there has only been one permanent exclusion in Hertfordshire citing bullying as a reason since 2020/2021, suspensions for bullying have nearly doubled, from 96 in 2020/2021 to 184 in 2022/2023.

Schools and settings are well aware of the short and long-term impacts of bullying on their students, and significant efforts have been made to tackle bullying behaviours. This is a continuous journey, requiring ongoing review and refinement of strategies and approaches to meet the needs of current cohorts.

Key strategies for consideration:

• Review policy with stakeholder input.
• Analyse data identifying any patterns and trends within cohorts and groups.
• Engage pupil voice in discussions about school culture.
• Integrate PSHE/RSHE curriculum effectively.
• Prioritise online safety education for staff, students and parents/carers
• Embed anti-bullying and wellbeing weeks in the school calendar.

Look out for Part 2 of this blog, which will provide valuable links and resources to assist your school in embedding and supporting anti-bullying activities during anti-bullying week and beyond.