Dear Parents & Carers,

The online world is an essential part of our daily lives and learning how to use technology safely is an essential skill for young people. Apps such as TikTok, WhatsApp, Facebook and Youtube, for example, are extremely popular but risks are posed and it is important that schools, parents and carers work together to take an active role in teaching children about online dangers. Learning how to act safely when using the internet is an incredibly important part of safeguarding our children and your role as a parent/carer can make a significant difference.

Most Social media apps are for pupils 13 years and over but WhatsApp is suggested for pupils aged 16 years and over. Although we strongly advise adhering to these age restrictions, we respect your right to make the choice as to whether to allow your child to access different forms of social media. However, if you do allow your child to access social media, we ask for your vigilance. 

Just like their interactions in person, online interactions require supervision and support.  What is right will vary from family to family but some strategies that are known to be successful include:  

• Monitoring their phones for the apps that are downloaded

• Enacting parental controls on phones and consoles 

• Reviewing the messages they send on platforms and apps – making monitoring part of a daily or weekly routine

• Setting expectations about what space (preferably communal) and times they have access to devices

• Encouraging them to share or discuss with you what they are doing.  

Whilst we appreciate the benefits of these forms of communication, many of our pupils are struggling when any problems or conflict arise as they are yet to develop the skills to deal with these situations. As a school, we are responding to this with additional teaching during Computing, PSHE and Character lessons and in 1:1 conversations and teaching opportunities as they arise.  Please also follow the link to find helpful guidance on settings for WhatsApp https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/online-safety-blog/2023-01-12-is-whatsapp-safe-for-my-child/ .  

Our school policy on how we keep children safe online can be found here https://primarysite-prod-sorted.s3.amazonaws.com/northlands-primary-school-nursery/UploadedDocument/1282b9ba-9891-46df-b414-d5af44e04d84/online-safety-policy-24.pdf

Additionally, the website https://www.internetmatters.org/schools-esafety/primary/  has further information on how to support your child's use of the internet and social media. Leaflets on how to support children by their ages are linked below.