Pupils from Filey School took part in role-playing workshops organised by Scarborough-based Studio 3 Theatre Arts group in the run-up to Anti-Bullying Week, which starts on Monday. Schools across the region will be looking at how to approach the issue, but Filey pupils will be able to watch how their classmates tackled problem-solving exercises.
The young people wrote, performed in and filmed their own DVD, taking on anti-social roles and acting out scenes of burglary and vandalism, including stealing, smashing windows and graffiti as well as bullying.
Adopting a restorative justice approach, the same scenes were then re-enacted with positive outcomes, in order to demonstrate how such criminal behaviour affects others.
"Personal experience is by far the most effective form of learning," said Studio 3 managing director Tristan Bearman.
"By engaging in role play, youngsters are given the opportunity to take on different characters which provokes them into considering the effects of their actions and behaviour.
"Due to the dramatic rise in bullying and anti-social behaviour and the increased seriousness of the types of incidents, we are confident that teachers, carers and youth workers will use the workshops as a constructive and informative educational tool to help stamp out
bullying. "