As we all know, the internet is an important feature in children's lives. It is important that children are able to safely use the internet but we must also be aware of the risks. One of the biggest risks for children and young people is that they give out too much information about themselves to the wrong people. We don’t just mean telephone numbers and addresses, we also mean the name of their school, their intimate thoughts and feelings and increasingly, pictures of themselves. Once information has been sent out in an email, by mobile phone or posted onto a website, it can easily be copied or forwarded to others.
There are organisations that can help if you or your child gets into a difficult situation on the internet or mobile phone.
If you know about a child who is in immediate danger and you need an urgent response, always call 999 and contact the police. You can also contact your local police for other cases where you think the law has been broken, for example serious instances of cyber-bullying.
If you are suspicious or know that a child is being groomed by an adult on the internet, then you should report directly to the police and you can do this online. CEOP is a national police centre which specialises in such cases.
In cases where you feel it is a minor issue, or it relates to school, feel free to contact the school or alternatively report the issue below. All reports will be sent directly to the Safeguarding team.
Your child online -
Cornwall Council has produced these documents to guide parents with what is appropriate online behaviour, what comments/signs should lead us to find out more about the child’s online behaviours and what should be cause for concern.
As a parent, I was concerned when I found from the training that some of the things my own children, (4 and 7) were doing at home could put them at risk of harm. I certainly had not perceived the risk of their online behaviour at such a young age. Following the training I received, I have changed aspects of our home-life online to reduce the amount of unsupervised time my children have on a device.
It is important that in order to help us drive forward our safeguarding of our pupils, that we need to be transparent with parents, and understanding what behaviours may put our children at risk is incredibly important as parents and as the staff with the responsibility for the children’s safeguarding.
We are sharing the three documents with all parents, so that you can have a look at the behaviours that are acceptable, require some more information or are a cause for concern. When we need to address these areas with parents, we will be able to directly refer to these documents.
The safeguarding concerns change as pupils get older, but it is useful to look past the age of your child to understand what older cousins/neighbours might be demonstrating so that you can also help support our community to develop a thorough understanding of online safeguarding.
Thank you for your time in reading the attached documents,
Becky Bridgman
Checking the suitability of APPs and games
You may like to use the link to “Common sense media” on our website where you can find reviews of apps and games on to check suitability of apps and games. Advice includes age advice and ratings for content.
Here are some quick links:
Snapchat:
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/app-reviews/snapchat
TikTok:
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/app-reviews/tiktok
Roblox:
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/website-reviews/roblox
E-Safety and parental controls
Many young people will have access to gadgets such as tablets, smart phones and games consoles.
The internet and all it can offer, is a wonderful tool for keeping in touch with friends and family, however parents and carers need to be aware that it is possible for people who are unknown to children and young people to communicate with them via the internet.
While using these gadgets is second nature for many children and young people, they can seem quite daunting for parents or carers who may not be as technologically savvy.
The guides below provide simple step-by-step instructions on how to set the privacy settings on the most popular applications and games consoles used by children and young people.
If your child has a mobile phone, games console or tablet, you can follow these instructions and enable these settings and therefore help protect your child or young person online.
https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/parental-controls/
You can also find more information on the CEOP Think you Know page at:
The 4 big internet providers in the UK – BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media - provide their customers with free parental controls which can be activated at any time. They have come together to produce video guides to help you to download and set-up the controls offered by your provider. These can be found at:
Online overtakes TV as kids’ top pastime
The internet has overtaken television as the top media pastime for the UK’s children.
Ofcom’s report on Children and Parents: Media Use and Attitudes, published recently, reveals that children’s internet use has reached record highs, with youngsters aged 5-15 spending around 15 hours each week online – overtaking time spent watching a TV set for the first time.
Even pre-schoolers, aged 3-4, are spending eight hours and 18 minutes a week online, up an hour and a half from six hours 48 minutes in the last year.
According to Ofcom’s data, children aged 5-15 have increased their weekly online time by an hour and 18 minutes in the last year to 15 hours.
In contrast, children are spending less time watching a TV set, with their weekly viewing dropping from 14 hours 48 minutes in 2015 to 13 hours 36 minutes in the last year.
YouTube is one of the most popular online destinations for children to watch content, with around three quarters (73%) of those aged 5-15 using the video site. It is also a hit with pre-schoolers with 37% regularly watching YouTube videos, who typically pick ‘TV content’ such as cartoons and mini-movies.
And older children are beginning to show a preference for YouTube with four in ten 8-11s and 12-15s saying they prefer watching YouTube than the TV set.