THOUSANDS of schoolchildren will get the chance to film their own DVD in an attempt to tackle bullying and anti-social behaviour.

Studio 3 Community Arts, which provides social workshops for young people, has launched an anti-social behaviour session designed for schools and youth groups.

School pupils will write, perform and film their own DVD. They will be taught to take on anti-social roles and act out scenes of burglary and vandalism, as well as bullying.

The same scenes will then be re-enacted with a positive outcome to demonstrate how criminal behaviour affects others.

Youngsters will also be encouraged to use their own experiences to portray what really goes on in the school playground, on the way to and from school and when the teacher's back is turned.

The workshop, which is called Best Behaviour, has been launched to coincide with Anti-Bullying Week next week.

Tristan Bearman, managing director of Scarborough-based Studio 3 Community Arts, said: "Personal experience is by far the most effective form of learning. 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."

In a separate initiative, community police officers and youth workers will be working with schoolchildren next week to raise awareness of bullying.

Information packs containing anti-bullying posters and 50 ideas of what children can do to mark the event, have been sent to all schools by the Anti-Bullying Alliance, which is organising the week.

Staff and pupils have been asked to dress in blue, and wear a blue wristband on Friday to show their determination to stop bullying.

North Yorkshire County Councillor John Watson, executive member for schools, said: "We recognise that, unfortunately, bullying can arise almost anywhere and that no child should have to endure its consequences.

"We are working towards a culture where bullying is considered totally unacceptable. We highlight bullying issues through raising awareness and the development of our training and policies in all our schools."