About the Sky Badger School Awards

About Our School Awards

Sky Badger have a really big dream, we want to improve the lives of disabled and SEN children by reducing the level of isolation, bullying and lack of information. The Sky Badger School Awards aims to do this by changing behaviour, building cohesion and developing better inclusion and peer group support in and out of school.

Why do we need disability awareness?

The Sky Badger School Awards is here to help the 770,000 disabled school children, their siblings and friends. We want to help them find their voices, as well as knowing where to find the help, support and adventure that is all around them.

There are 600 babies born with disabilities every week. Only 4% of disabled children are supported by social services departments, and 55% of families with disabled children are living in or at the margins of poverty. 85% of respondents to a survey carried out by the Anti Bullying Alliance in 2011 believed their child was bullied because they had disabilities or Special Educational Needs (SENs).

In their latest survey in 2014, The Anti Bullying Alliance discovered also that 8 out of 10 children with learning disabilities have been bullied. Disabled children at primary school are 50% more likely to be victimised. 83% of young people with learning difficulties have suffered bullying. Over 90% of parents of children with Asperger Syndrome have reported the bullying of their child in the previous year.

What are the Sky Badger School Awards?

The Sky Badger Schools Awards include a series of lessons and games specially designed to help children develop empathy, rather than sympathy, for children with disabilities, illness, and special educational needs. Our fun activities will build children's confidence and understanding, reduce bullying and raise attainment levels for students with disabilities and special educational needs and who are siblings acting as young carers.

The Sky Badger Schools Awards are free to take part in, and easy to incorporate into your school term. They include exciting and innovative learning activities that support teachers and put disability issues at the heart of the National Curriculum. Pupils can learn about everything from a disabled Viking invader to designing their own Moon village.

The activities range in duration from 30 minutes to whole-day events. And afterwards, your school's efforts will be rewarded with a Bronze, Silver or Gold Sky Badger Awards certificate. The more lessons and games you complete, the bigger the award. The Sky Badger Schools Awards includes a very special baking competition. One in every twenty children has a food allergy, so we are running the Sky Badger Baking Mad competition to find the best allergy-friendly cakes, treats and party food.

By coming up with their own allergy-friendly recipes, your pupils and school could be in the running for more than £3,000 worth of prizes provided by BakingMad.com and a visit from the winner of the BBC's Great British Bake Off.

Building the Sky Badger School Awards

We knew that making a real difference with a disability awareness programme was going to be tricky. Find out how we did it here...

Click on the links below to find out more about the brilliant partners, supporters, volunteers and experts that helped us make the Sky Badger School Awards what is is today.

​#Ogilvychange

"Little Ideas from Big Thinkers that solve Big Behavioural Problems."

Thanks to the fantastic Pimp My Cause, a support organisation for charities and social enterprises, Sky Badger entered the highly competitive process to be included in the prestigious #ogilvychange programme.

We were extremely fortunate to be chosen by #ogilvychange to help us develop out School Awards. #ogilvychange is a behavioural practice that combines the gravitas of leading research in cognitive psychology and behavioural economics with the communication expertise of the Ogilvy Group.

The practice was founded by Ogilvy & Mather UK Vice-Chairman, Rory Sutherland and Ogilvy Group Chief Strategy Officer, Jez Groom. Their team of choice architects work alongside their active community of behavioural science experts, including leading academics and those applying these insights in the real world, to provide us with the best behavioural thinking in the field.


The #ogilvychange team has helped Sky Badger identify why lasting change has not been achieved through disability awareness programmes in the past and how we can overcome these barriers to change. The barriers identified include children not understanding how disabilities really affect a normal life, children being afraid of the unfamiliar and the need to reinforce a message in order for behaviour change to last.

#ogilvychange created a system for children, along with their teacher, to set goals and work through Sky Badger’s ten games and lessons and get graduating rewards. The students will need to take responsibility for reaching their goals and will get the chance to build a real sense of ownership of the programme.

The initiative has been made easy for teachers and schools to buy into because the lessons are designed to fit with the new national curriculum, so by teaching the Sky Badger lessons, teachers will be meeting their existing targets and at the same time giving their pupils a valuable life-changing experience.

Hear more from Rory Sutherland on Ted Talks.

Baking Mad.com

Baking Mad.com have very generously donated £3,000 worth of prizes to the winners of our Sky Badger School Awards competition. All schools (and community groups) will be able to enter our baking competition. Children will be asked to bake their favourite party food that is safe to eat for children with peanut, wheat, egg and dairy allergies etc. The top recipes will be published on the Baking Mad.com website. 1st prize will be a visit from the winner of the ‘Great British Bake Off’!

Cumbria University’s Primary Teaching degree

In April 2014, Sky Badger gave a lecture to Cumbria University's Primary Teaching Degree, Year 2. A part of the lecture we asked the students to come up with innovative new games and lesson plans that we could make part of the Sky Badger Awards. They didn't disappoint! These future teachers are going to change the world. It was a privilege to meet them. A special thanks needs to go to their tutor Verna Kilburn and Lauren Hendy, an outstanding student.

Volunteer teachers and professionals

As part of Sky Badger pyjama volunteering programme, we asked teachers, students and professionals all over the UK to share their lesson plans and ideas about disability awareness with us. We had an enormous response with over 80 volunteers reaching out through The Guardian Volunteering listings and Do-it. The library of ideas that our volunteers created became the starting point of this great adventure.

Expert Consultants

The extraordinary Nabil Shaban became our Viking expert, giving us incredible information and guidance about the Ivarr the Boneless. Nabil has spent over twenty years researching Ivarr the Boneless. Click here to see our lesson plan about this berserk Viking.

Biography of Nabil Shaban

Nabil Shaban was born in Jordan in 1953, with osteogenesis imperfecta, and has spent his entire life unable to walk, and therefore has to use a wheelchair. He is an actor, writer, film-maker and artist. He began acting professionally when he and his friend, Richard Tomlinson, created the world's first professional theatre company for disabled people, Graeae Theatre, in 1980. It was Nabil's love of history that inspired him to want to be an actor, as he wanted to pretend to be heroes like Richard the Lionheart, Robin Hood, Julius Caesar, Francis Drake, William Tell. However, when he realised that as a disabled actor he couldn't play such non-disabled characters, he looked around for disabled historical figures he might be able to play, and that was how he discovered Ivarr the Boneless. And so, he did the research on Ivarr and the Vikings, and began writing about him, and persuaded Channel Four to make the documentary "The Strangest Viking" in 2002.

Designers and Copywriters

Out of the Bleu

Sky Badger's lesson plans and games were all designed by the incredible Out of the Bleu design team. Jayne and Michael worked tirelessly to bring us the most beautiful, fun and down right perfect graphics we could have ever have hoped for!

Out of the Bleu's extensive client list includes the RSPB and Kidney Research UK. With over 12 years experience, Out of the Bleu specialise in knocking their clients’ socks off... We all have bare feet now.

Adam Marek

All of Sky Badger's communications including our entire School Awards pack was expertly written by the outstanding Adam Marek. Adam has over ten years experience in charity copy writing including RSPB, RNLI, Kidney Research UK and Alzheimer Research UK. Adam Marek is also an award-winning short story writer.

Tom Morgan-Jones, Inkymess

Tom is the magic man that brought Sky Badger to life. In our School Award pack, Tom has invented a range of alter egos for Sky Badger. In them, Sky Badger transforms from a mild mannered teacher, doctor and friend into the loveable Super hero Sky Badger that we all know and love. Tom's work is widely and internationally published, from Children's books and magazines to satirical boardgames. His work has been exhibited in various different places, from The Berlin Academy of Arts in Germany to The Penguin American Dry Cleaners on Mill Road in Cambridge, UK. His client list includes Amnesty International the BBC, BFI, Cambridge University Press, Chrysalis Children's Books, Greenpeace, MacMillan Children's books and the National Geographic.

Reference Data

A word from the Sky Badger Think Tank

“I think society as a whole needs better disability awareness as this will reduce some of the barriers disabled people face. I think realistically it has to start from the bottom - if young children are more aware they will pass this onto their parents as well as growing up with an acceptance of disability.

Sadly it's pretty common for adults not to know how to be around me - I've had everything from "you'll get a speeding ticket" to getting "spaz" yelled at from a passing car. I was bullied in my mainstream primary school and I think that wasn't helped by the lack of disability awareness in the school. I remember them doing assembles on deaf and blind people but never on physical disability despite the school 'specialising' in integrating physically disabled children. Because the children didn't understand why I was wobbly or talked funny they made fun of this which shattered my already low confidence."

Katy Evans, Disabled young person and disability rights advocate

Sky Badger Survey

“Statutory services are a maze of hidden or misinformation. Help is available, but knowing where to go for the answer is very difficult.”

Parents of a disabled child

“Jamie's drooling (a result of his CP) is starting to become an issue. He has mention to me on personally that some other children have been noticing it and making comments towards him, calling him a baby etc. It’s made him very self conscious. I've had to explain that it’s not his fault and that the other children have a lack of understand.”

Carer of disabled child

"I think raising awareness and educating both children and adults is invaluable to enable people to understand the ‘world outside normality’ and the everyday challenges that are presented- I wish it could become part of the curriculum!"

Parent of a disabled child

UNICEF 2013

Children with disabilities are one of the most marginalized and excluded groups of children, experiencing widespread violations of their rights. Discrimination arises not as a result of the intrinsic nature of children’s disability, but rather, as a consequence of lack of understanding and knowledge of its causes and implications, fear of difference, fear of contagion or contamination, or negative religious or cultural views of disability.

Department for Children and Families

Bullying Involving Children with Special Needs

"Bullying’s just… like I’ve only got 2 friends in this entire school…everyone else just like runs away from me or gives me abuse. Everything they do to me is abuse. Well, they sort of swear at me, hit me, throw stuff at me."

University of Cambridge Faculty of Education

Validating practice in schools and local authorities; Effectiveness of Raising awareness and understanding of children with SEN and/or disabilities

…awareness raising projects can offer significant positive experiences for those involved. This led to increased empathy between those with and without disabilities and a decrease in bullying.

…information sessions address difficulties in how children with SEN and/or disabilities are conceptualised and as such, form part of a wider education for mainstream peers, challenging the misunderstanding and ignorance that often forms the root of disability related bullying.

Perspectives on Bullying and Difference 
2012

Supporting young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities in schools.
 Edited by Colleen McLaughlin, Richard Byers and Caroline Oliver.

The way in which schools respond to 'difference' and bullying of children and young people with disabilities or special educational needs can significantly shape children's experiences. This book offers schools ideas for dealing with bullying and aims to set the agenda for the future.
Perspectives on Bullying and Difference gives voice to parents, carers and young people and offers a snapshot of how schools, teachers, local authorities and other professionals try to deal with the problem of SEN and disability bullying. It looks at several schools that are developing their own initiatives and includes:


- a consideration of the benefits and implications of a wide variety of anti-bullying practices
- a number of in-depth case studies, highlighting where practices have been used to good effect
- a discussion of teachers' evaluation of the effectiveness of interventions
- school policy and practice recommendations
- the first steps towards a research programme to evaluate effectiveness and demonstrate how well approaches work.

Based on the findings of a project undertaken by the Anti-Bullying Alliance and the University of Cambridge Faculty of Education this book integrates stories from parents, carers, young people and practitioners with research findings. Bringing these multiple perspectives together for the first time is compelling. Perspectives on Bullying and Difference shows there is a great deal that can be done in schools right now to reduce the levels of bullying - solutions are closer than we may think. It is a must read for everyone involved in education.

Anti Bullying Alliance

This briefing forms part of the suite of briefings for school leaders, teachers and policy makers emerging from the current (2010/11) work of the Anti-Bullying Alliance on the issue of the bullying of children and young people with Special Educational Needs and/or disabilities in schools.

This briefing is based on the results of an online survey completed by around 80 parents and carers of disabled children. It is supported by the knowledge and materials of Contact a Family's work with families with disabled children. The briefing highlights some of the key themes raised by families with disabled children, and some of the ways they feel bullying could be dealt with when it occurs in and around the school environment.

  • Findings of the comprehensive review of the literature; Responding to bullying among children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Briefing paper for head teachers and school staff

The bullying of children and young people with disabilities or special educational needs has been ignored in our schools and communities for too long. Based on the findings of a project undertaken by the Anti-Bullying Alliance and the University of Cambridge Faculty of Education this book aims to set the agenda for future research and practice.

Integrating the evidence from young people, parents, carers and practitioners with case studies of practice, Perspectives on Bullying and Difference shows the remarkable overlap between the experiences of these stakeholders and research findings. Bringing these multiple perspectives together for the first time is compelling and it is vital that the messages are acted upon quickly.

  • Anti Bullying Alliance Survey 2014

National Coordinator of the Anti-Bullying Alliance, Lauren Seager-Smith, said:

"1 in 5 children of school age have a special educational need, those who existing evidence shows us are significantly more likely to suffer bullying. Our findings show that children are using these bullying words in general conversation, and worse still, to deliberately insult each other and their disabled peers or those with special educational needs."

"As adults we need to ask ourselves what our role is in this, when it became acceptable to use these and other discriminatory words as part of 'banter' and why we feel disabled people and those with special educational needs are fair game."

"Existing evidence demonstrates just how pervasive the bullying of disabled children and those with special education needs is, yet as a society we are using discriminatory and hurtful language that is perpetuating the bullying of these vulnerable children in our schools. We must challenge the normalisation of this language and recognise the impact it is having on the attitudes of generations to come."

Children with special educational needs and disabled children are more likely to be bullied;

Primary school pupils with special educational needs are twice as likelyas other children to suffer from persistent bullying [1]
83% of young people with learning difficulties have suffered bullying [2]
over 90% of parents of children with Asperger Syndrome have reported the bullying of their child in the previous year. [3]

BBC Ouch

How three young disabled people dealt with bullies

Research shows disabled children are much more likely to be bullied. Three young people who were once victimised tell their stories and share tips on tackling the problem.

This year's Anti Bullying Week has been asking schools to give particular attention to children with disabilities or special educational needs. The organisation behind the campaign, the Anti-Bullying Alliance (ABA), has published new research on attitudes to disablist language this week and cites other recent research which shows eight out of 10 children with learning disabilities have been bullied, and that disabled children at primary school are 50% more likely to be victimised.

Rebecca, Maxine and Ammaar were at the receiving end of bullying. They explain how they got through it in the hope that their stories will help those having trouble now.

'Speak up'

More than 90% of parents of children with Asperger Syndrome told the ABA that their child had been bullied in the past 12 months. Rebecca Parkin is 17 and has the condition. She was bullied regularly from the age of six until recently, when becoming a campaigning voice for others in her situation boosted her confidence. Rebecca says she was an "easy victim" for bullies. "I rarely spoke to anyone. I was really shy and kept to myself, even saying hello to someone was really difficult for me," she says.

"You need to speak up so things will change”

The problems began in primary school, where she was called names and excluded from friendship groups, but she describes high school as "a living hell". "I was called fat, crazy, weird, stupid, ugly. When I was about 12 a gang of 16-year-olds came up to me in a park and tried setting my hair on fire. In school I got hit and tripped up, I had food and water thrown on me. One day a boy cornered me and said he was going to find me after school and kill me. I also got abuse online and someone set up a fake account on YouTube in my name so people could leave nasty comments on my videos."

Rebecca was so badly affected that she began self-harming and needed help from mental health services. Things only changed for the teenager when she managed to speak up about what was happening to her. She says that she bugged teachers "until they did something about it" and that helping others in the same situation taught her that "you need to speak up so things will change".

About Sky Badger the Charity

We believe that family life should be full of fun and adventure – this is especially important if you have a disabled or life-limited child. Four mothers founded Sky Badger in October 2011 - three of our children are disabled and two have life-limiting conditions. We know from first-hand experience the importance of finding the right help at the right time.

So many fantastic opportunities exist, but are they advertised? Barely. Some of them are so well hidden it’s as if stealth technology has been employed to conceal them. Until Sky Badger came along, badly updated and incomplete links pages were a family’s best hope to find help for their disabled child.

​Sky Badger levels the playing field by finding educational, medical, financial and social support for families with disabled children all over the UK. Our staff, volunteers and our work experience programme for young disabled people research new charities, services and opportunities and tell families about them on our website: www.skybadger.co.uk, Twitter feed, Facebook page, Pintrest, Instagram and YouTube video channel and a confidential e-helpdesk.

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