School bullying drama tells of message within

Year 6 pupils at New Park Primary School today put on a special performance of their award-winning drama ‘Within’ for Educate Magazine and other distinguished guests at the school in Kensington.

The drama graphically depicts the impact of cyber-bullying and the importance of telling somebody if you are being targeted as dealing with it alone can have a damaging effect on your mental health.

Cast member Lois explained: “The message of Within is the victim is trapped after being bullied and she is feeling she can’t talk to anyone. She feels like no-one is there for her; she is being consumed by her inner thoughts.

“But the message is you should always speak to somebody as it can only get worse if you bottle your feelings up.”

The performers wore black outfits to start with but switched to colourful clothing to show the impact talking to somebody about your experience can have.

An interactive Q&A session followed with the cast members asking the audience a series of questions designed to highlight the dangers of bullying.

It was first performed at the inaugural NOW Festival at the Epstein Theatre where the school took home the Most Creative Performance Award for the drama which also looks at the impact of technology on children’s mental health.

Teacher Gema Loveday who has worked on the production, spoke of her pride of the pupils’ performance, saying: “The message they portrayed is so powerful and everybody who was seen it has commented on how thought-provoking the performance is.  They’re an absolute credit to the school.”

The drama was put together in partnership with CAMHS (Child Adolescent Mental Health Services) as part of Children’s Mental Health Week which was held between 8-14 February this year. Entitled ‘Technology: good or bad?’, it looked at the impact of bullying and the dangers of keeping those feelings to yourself.