Kindness is more important today than it has ever been. The isolation of the last year has underlined how little acts of consideration can break down barriers and brighten the lives of the people around us. This is one of the reasons, that ‘One Kind Word’ has been chosen as the theme of Anti-Bullying Week taking place from 15 to 19 of November 2021.

Anti-bullying week is an annual UK event, held in the third week of November which aims to raise awareness of bullying of children and young people and highlight ways of preventing and responding to it.

It started in 2002 and has since grown to become a significant event in the calendars of children, families and schools with an estimated 80% of schools in the country taking part.

That's over 7 million children and young people!

Following the success of the campaign in 2020, the Anti-Bullying Alliance (which coordinates the campaign each year in England and Wales) asked over 400 young people, teachers, and parents, what they wanted from this year’s Anti-Bullying Week. Again and again, the young and not-so-young told us they wanted anti-bullying work to be about hope and the positive and kind things we can do to halt hurtful behaviour in its tracks.

Odd Socks Day forms part of our Anti-Bullying week campaign, and takes place on Monday, November 15.

Fronted by the Ant-Bullying Alliance patron and CBeebies present Andy Day and his band Andy and the Odd Socks, millions of children and adults will go to school or work in odd socks to highlight what makes us all unique.