'Sticks and Stones' was originally commissioned by the BBC for their inaugural Short Story Award. I was then approached by Nelson Education, a Canada-based educational publisher, who secured the publishing rights for their educational media in 2014. Since then it has been used as an educational resource internationally. It has also been broadcast on BBC radio Four as part of their Second generation series: https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/secondgeneration/pip/fy300/
Who is affected
Teachers of school children 7+ have been able to use the story to initiate class discussions on bullying. Course work projects have centred around the story; work books have been produced as an accompaniment to the original story.
Narrative
A teacher witnesses a child being bullied at school and, unable to convince his colleagues of the seriousness of the bullying, is unable to prevent the boy's death. Remembering his own experience of being bullied, the teacher has a breakdown and returns to his former home.