PUPILS at a Bradford primary school have been using the latest technology to learn about the sensitive issue of bullying.

St Matthew’s CE Primary School at Bankfoot held virtual reality sessions as part of a special anti-bullying day for pupils, staff, parents and governors.

The two sessions allowed those taking part to wear goggles which linked them to a virtual world, where they could then ask questions of the different characters in VR bullying scenarios.

Pupils from Years 5 and 6 were joined by adults from the whole school community to find out more about bullying and how to tackle it.

In each of the 45-minute sessions, held at the start and the end of the school day, participants donned the goggles to interact with the computer generated characters and learn how to identify acts of bullying, how to respond to it and how to safely intervene on behalf of others experiencing it.

The “mutual respect” sessions were developed by the school’s education group in partnership with its bullying intervention group.

They are part of the work the Mayo Avenue school is doing to achieve the Anti-Bullying Quality Mark, a qualification for schools that shows they are ready and able to tackle bullying. Schools have to show evidence of work they have done.

A steering group led by parents has worked all year to improve practices around anti-bullying. As a result, school policies have been updated, Anti-Bullying Ambassadors have been introduced to support children in the playground, and a number of workshop activities are regularly held across the school.

St Matthew’s is currently working towards the bronze quality mark.

James Whitehead, assistant headteacher and anti-bullying lead, said: “We have involved parents and governors because tackling bullying is something pupils and adults should be involved in.”

Acting headteacher Kay Remmer said: “The anti-bullying day takes a new approach to dealing with bullying issues in school.

“We expect the outcome will be that more people will become involved in identifying, responding to and effectively dealing with any bullying which might take place at St Matthew’s.”

Governor Khatija Chilwan said: “It has been great, the children have really engaged with the sessions and everything that has gone on.

“They asked the right questions and answered the questions really well too.

“We will be keeping up with the anti-bullying message, and it is important because children see it from an entirely different perspective.”