Anti-bullying campaigner inspires students
Wed, 04 May 2016
Over 400 students from Clarendon Sixth Form College and Tameside College took part in a range of activities as part of Equality and Diversity week. The colleges invited Alex Holmes, anti-bullying campaigner, to talk to students about his experience as he grew up.
Alex, who was bullied throughout his time at school, decided to take a stand against bullying and became a student anti-bullying coordinator. He was involved in many activities that helped stop bullying, and most importantly, give support to those who had been affected by bullying.
Due to his hard work and commitment, Alex received the Diana Anti-bullying Award and now runs the charity’s Ambassador Programme. He has had the honour of meeting Prince William and has also made a TV advert campaigning against bullying.
Alex has now been an anti-bullying campaigner for seven years and has visited various schools across the country to talk about equality and diversity.
Alex told the students that each of them will have completed 11,000 hours in education by the time they are 18 years old. Therefore it is important that students feel happy and safe when spending the majority of their time in education.
He told students: “In life we need to learn to respect each other. We need to make college a place where everyone feels they belong and are included.” Alex also explained that bullying can be many different forms including, verbally or indirectly. Alex said: “One form of bulling isn’t more hurtful than the other, they all hurt equally.”
Corinne Rainey, Student Services team leader, said: “Students at Tameside College and Clarendon Sixth Form College have gained a lot of information from Alex that they can use throughout their time at the college and into adult life. We will continue, as a college, to support equality and diversity. Visit’s from people like Alex help give the students a different perspective on issues like bullying and how we can work together to stop it. The students really enjoyed his visit and we would like to thank him for taking the time to meet our students.”