Dragonfly Productions


FAO Deputy Head Pastoral


The BAFTA award winning production company Dragonfly Film and Television are making a new series about bullying and are looking for a school to take part


After the huge success of 'Jodie Marsh – Bullied: My Secret Past' last year where Jodie looked back at the painful experiences of her childhood, we have now been commissioned by Channel 5 to make a new two part series. The first episode of the series will be filmed in America investigating new anti bullying techniques and the second in the UK to see what is being done in schools to tackle bullying in all its forms.

We are in the process of pulling together a team of anti bullying experts that can work with Jodie to create a new anti bullying strategy to implement in a school. This is a strategy that we hope to take online and roll out with the series that will not only gain support for the anti bullying message but also something that can be used as a tool for schools, teachers, parents and pupils long after this programme has been broadcast

So we would like to speak to schools that are aware of the problems of bullying and are interested in taking a step forward to promote a new way of limiting bullying and its causes. We would be very keen to work very closely with them and to see what effect this method would have on the well being of the pupils.

We fully appreciate filming about bullying is highly sensitive and obviously each school has a duty to protect their students. In the past, we have had very good responses from schools and educators involved in our filming.

Here is a link to the previous programme we made with Jodie Marsh: http://encodi.com/v/2KJC

I have also attached a reference from Karen Broadhurst, the deputy head teacher of Churnet View Middle School where we filmed last year for the original documentary we made about Bullying;

'Last year I was contacted by Dragonfly to see if our school, Churnet View Middle School, in Leek Staffordshire, would be interested in taking part in a documentary about the serious issue of 'bullying'.  At first, I was rather reticent as we are a school who has been given awards for our strong stance on 'Anti bullying' and was fearful that if we talked about bullying issues in school, the perception from the public maybe that we have a real issue! I explained this to the producers who assured us that this would not be the case.
 
Of course, we have children who have experienced bullying first hand - so we were able to choose three children to talk about their experiences.  From the onset, the producers, cameramen, etc, who came from Dragonfly, were amazing! They made the whole process extremely exciting and everyone felt 'comfortable' during every part of the process.  The communication in-between filming days was fantastic - every question was answered and by the end of the filming, and the airing of the programme, we were delighted on every level. The three children who were involved in the main filming have 'grown' in so many ways - raised confidence and self-esteem in particular! They also learnt so much about how a programme is put together - so it was an educational journey for them too!
 
The fantastic part for the school too was the producers arranging an incredibly special day that involved the whole school - this wasn't in the plan initially, but they 'made it happen' and this has made a difference to so many lives within the school community - a day they will never forget!
 
Dragonfly kept their promise - we were portrayed as a school that admitted bullying happened - no school can deny it doesn't - but the final programme showed how our children had come through their 'bad times' and portrayed us as a school who 'tackled' bullying 'hands on' and in no way did we feel the programme had a detrimental effect.
 
I can't praise the company enough and would happily work with them again.’


Dragonfly Film & Television Productions, a Bafta-winning documentary company has a reputation internationally for its sensitive documentary making, delivering high quality programming both in the UK and the US. Please see our website www.dragonfly.tv

I can be contacted either on this email address; antibullying@dragonfly.tv or call Rob on 0207 033 2261 or David on 0207 033 2262

I very much look forward to hearing from you.

Regards
Rob Rawlings
Series Producer


Dragonfly Film and Television Productions Ltd, 120-124 Curtain Road, London, EC2A 3SQ.