Schools across England and Wales are preparing for Anti-Bullying Week 2026, which starts next Monday, 16 November, and runs until Friday, 20 November.
This year’s theme is “Break the Silence”. It is a call for children, families and schools to talk openly about bullying, rather than letting it stay hidden.
The week is coordinated by the Anti-Bullying Alliance. The alliance says that far too many children who experience bullying suffer in silence, weighed down by shame, and that speaking up is the first step towards changing things.
The week opens with Odd Socks Day on Monday, 16 November, when children are encouraged to wear odd socks to school, to celebrate difference and to show that being different is something to celebrate.
The alliance is providing lesson plans, assemblies and activities for schools to use during the week, so that pupils can talk about what bullying looks like, how it feels, and what to do about it, whether it happens in the playground, online or anywhere else.
Anti-Bullying Week is held every November and has become one of the biggest moments in the school calendar for work on bullying, with schools, youth groups and charities taking part across the country. This year, its message is deliberately simple: silence protects bullying, and breaking it is where change starts.
Sources: Anti-Bullying Alliance; Anti-Bullying Week.
