School DVD helps bullied children

The DVD is being shown to schools around Merseyside and Cheshire

Pupils at a specialist performing arts school have made a DVD to encourage youngsters to speak out about bullying.

The five-minute film - made by pupils at Fairfield High School in Widnes, Cheshire - is being shown at schools across Halton and Liverpool.

It details the plight of a bullied boy and has two endings - one of him driven to suicide after suffering in silence and the other of him getting help.

Pupils in the school's film club wrote, performed and directed the DVD.

Kate Allerston, an arts officer who works with the school, said: "We've shown it to different year groups in our assembly and taken it to primary schools around the area and the response has been really positive.

"A couple of children have told us that if a friend was being bullied but asked them to keep quiet they would follow their wishes but now after watching the DVD they say they would speak out as this would be a better way to help their friend."