Schools across the country have come together this week to mark anti-bullying week.

Northumberland County Council has encouraged schools to utilise available resources to raise awareness and help unite pupils against bullying.

Councillor Guy Renner-Thompson, cabinet member with responsibility for children’s services said: “Children and young people can often find themselves experiencing one of the many kinds of bullying that exist.

“There are many forms of bullying, and it is by raising awareness through our schools, our parents and our carers that together we can help tackle this problem.

“Our schools work extremely hard to combat bullying within their settings.

“All have anti-bullying policies in place and a number of our schools have anti-bullying ambassadors to work across the school’s network to share ideas and best practices.”

Earlier this year, the county council joined forces with Northumberland’s NHS clinical commissioning group (CCG) to provide Kooth – an online mental health platform for young people to access support and guidance.

Schools work all year round with their students to address bullying, and while that is the case it is still important that wider awareness week brings people together to talk about bullying.