The whole school learns what to do
BullyStop is an anti-bullying programme for Australian primary schools. It teaches children to keep their head, what to say and where to stand so a situation settles, and, as a last resort, one Gracie Jiu Jitsu escape that gets them free and away.
Bullying is not a rare event
These are national figures, not ours. They are what the programme is built to answer.
What the programme teaches
Five parts, and every student takes part in all of them, not just the ones being targeted.
Verbal cues
Workshops on what to say and how to say it: defusing a tense situation, speaking up with confidence, and taking the heat out of a disagreement before it escalates. Students rehearse it out loud, because knowing the words and being able to use them under pressure are not the same thing.
Conflict resolution
Interactive sessions on why conflicts start in the first place, how to work a problem through, and how to negotiate and compromise instead of escalating.
Empathy
Activities and discussions that ask students to step into someone else's shoes, building tolerance and a real understanding of another point of view.
Gracie Jiu Jitsu escapes
If a child is actually grabbed, certified instructors teach them how to get free and reach an adult, at a level appropriate to their age. This is the last thing a student reaches for, not the first, and everything else in the programme is aimed at never needing it.
Parent involvement
Communication with parents and guardians so the same language and the same strategies are reinforced at home, rather than stopping at the school gate.
Why the whole school at once
Running a programme one class at a time leaves the culture around that class unchanged. A child comes back from the session to a playground where nobody else heard it.
BullyStop is built to run across a whole school instead, so every year level hears the same thing in the same week. That includes the bystanders, who are the largest group in any playground and usually the ones who decide whether something continues.
Year 6 leave for high school carrying it, and the younger years move up through the school with it already in place.
Schools are given templates afterwards so staff can reinforce the same language, and a whole-of-school booking returns a donation to the school.
Questions schools ask
If yours is not here, ring 0414 378 994 or put it in the enquiry form.
Do your instructors hold a Working With Children Check?
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Do you carry public liability insurance?
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How long does a session run for?
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How many students can take part at once?
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What does a whole-of-school programme cost?
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What do we need to provide on the day?
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How far will you travel?
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Which year levels is the programme suitable for?
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How much notice do you need to book?
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What do we get afterwards to reinforce it?
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Our Jiu Jitsu represents the triumph of human intelligence over brute strength.
Where the programme comes from
BullyStop is built on Gracie Jiu Jitsu, taught the way the Gracie family passed it to Master Rob. That art exists so a smaller, weaker person can stay safe against someone bigger using leverage and position rather than force, which is exactly the problem a bullied child has.
The programme was written by Robert Cooley, a ninth dan black belt, and is delivered by certified instructors working with trained assistants who are used to children.
Defence only, and only as a last resort
Almost all of the programme is about never needing to touch anyone: staying calm, what to say, where to stand, and how to walk away. If a child is actually grabbed, they learn a single escape that gets them free and back to an adult. There is nothing in it that can be used to start a fight or to hold another child down, and it is taught as the last thing a child uses rather than the first.
Enquire about a session
Tell us the school or organisation and roughly how many people, and you will get a straight answer on what a session involves and what it costs.
Every child hears the same thing, in the same week
Give a whole school the words, the distance and the confidence to use them, and let them practise it out loud. Book a session and see what the playground sounds like afterwards.