Is the message that Inverness High School have been sending out to their students over the last 5 years. The school runs series of bullying initiatives within which they operate. The message that Assistant Head, Cameron Gibson, gives to pupils is: "If you keep it a secret the bully wins."

Every pupil in the school is involved in the initiatives from 1st years, who produce their own posters, to senior pupils, auxiliary and teaching staff.

Cameron says: "We are punting the message that if there is a problem you have to speak to someone about it. Senior pupils are encouraged to look after the younger ones. We also run an interval and lunch time base which the younger pupils, 1st and 2nd years can utilise. We have computers games, Scrabble, Connect, other games and activities for them, it’s almost like a youth club environment, and instead of separating the 1st and 2nd years we encourage the older students, the second year pupils, to welcome in the first year students, show them the ropes as it were. The club works very well. If a pupils steps out of line their card will be confiscated. They are then invited up to talk to me about their conduct before their card is given back. As a result they know that their bad behaviour will have consequences and to be honest after a student has their card confiscated once we rarely have to speak to them again.

"We operate a general information system for parents through letters and leaflets, which keeps them up-to-date and informed about school issues. If we do get a call about bullying we will interview all those involved: the bully, the victim and the parents. If there is a problem we will stop it. This is then followed up on a daily basis. However, most trouble comes from friends falling out with each other. Students can be very competitive, if there is a fallout over say a boyfriend or losing a game, we get them together to talk and to bury the hatchet. That said though, we are very tough on fights of any sort. Both kids will be sent home. This is their cooling off period. It may seem hard to send both pupils home - the bully and the victim - but we feel that this stops any other students from getting involved. Our bullying policy and other initiatives are ongoing, we speak to the students at assembly and often have discussions based around the subject. Our message is a simple one - help each other. And it seems to be working. The students themselves now have the attitude that if someone, themselves or a fellow pupil, is experiencing trouble, or being bullied they think: "Hey, that is not right, this has to be spoken out against."

Over the past few years the school has monitored reported bullying from pupils and the results are a startling drop in bullying. It is this sort of behaviour that has become more and more unacceptable to pupils and at Inverness High School the staff and the pupils are working together to eliminate this destructive and wasteful pest.

If a child is worried about bullying and finds it hard to talk to someone they know Childline has a bullying line which can be contacted on 0800 44 1111, open Monday to Friday 3.30pm to 9.30pm.

A new line which provides information on bullying has been set up by the Anti-Bullying Network who can be contacted on : 0131 651 6100 and is open from 9.30am - 12.30pm and 2pm - 4.30pm.