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The Folkestone Academy have welcomed us into the school this week to talk to students from years 8 to 10 about their responsibilities when it comes to using the internet, in particular messaging and social media apps. We have explained the police law around unwanted and malicious communications and the consequences of breaking these laws. We spoke about cyber bullying, the effects cyber bullying has on individuals, and the importance of being kind to each other. Our advice to parents and carers is Talk to your children – be open and positive when talking about the internet. Make sure your child knows they can come to you for help if something happens online that makes them feel scared, worried or uncomfortable. Many children won’t disclose online worries because they are scared adults will blame them or remove their access to the internet. Ask your child if they know where to go for help, where to find safety advice, information about privacy settings and how to report or block users on their games and websites. Explore their games and websites together to ensure your child knows how to block and report anyone who is nasty or inappropriate. Encourage your child not to retaliate or reply and to keep any evidence. If the game/app has a ‘parent section’, explore the parental controls and reporting systems yourself.Ensure your child understands pictures, videos or comments posted online can be very difficult to remove and rarely remain private.Discuss the pressures for young people to send inappropriate or nude(indecent) images to each other. How might this behaviour affect their relationship? Do they know what they would do? Young people need to be aware images can be copied, saved, and shared without their knowledge and if they are under 18, they may also be breaking the law by making an indecent image of themselves. For more information and online safety resources please visit https://www.kent.police.uk/safer-internet-day Kind regards Kerry Duncan |
