Online Safety
At Paulton Junior School, we encourage the positive use of technology and often talk about the fun of going online, but we also discuss the scary things that can happen too. So, if your child is getting a new device or will be accessing a shared/existing device, have a think about the following:
- Have you set up parental controls on your broadband connection?
- Have you set up parental controls on the actual device (phone/tablet/laptop/watch etc.)?
- Have you set up controls on the apps/games your child is going to access?
- An updated Parental Controls Booklet is attached to this e-mail and available on our website, along with some How to... videos (Android video to follow when they are available). https://www.internetmatters.org/parental-controls/ is also a good place to look for information on this topic.
- Have you spoken to your child about any agreed boundaries? E.g. screen time limits, what sites/apps/games to access (or not), where to leave devices at night, screen-free times of the day etc.
- Have you spoken to your child about what they do online, so you can better understand their online activity and any potential risks, and help them accordingly?
- Have you spoken to your child about what they can do if the see anything online that worries or upsets them?
- Are the games, TV series and films (including on Netflix/Disney+/AppleTV etc.) that your child is/will access, appropriate for their age? All of these have age ratings linked to their content, not their difficulty. Common Sense Media (commonsensemedia.org) can help you to know which games/apps/TV programmes are appropriate for your child.
- Visit https://parents.thorn.org/discussion-guides/ to help get discussions started.
We know how important it is to many children that they use technology to stay in touch with their friends. Although please note that the age restriction for all popular social media apps is 13 yrs (including Tiktok, Snapchat, BeReal, Whatsapp, etc.). Sometimes the online contact that children have with each other, can be unkind and harmful (e.g. bullying, inappropriate language/images being shared, children being excluded etc.).
If you choose to ignore these age restrictions and allow your children to access these apps, then it is worth being aware that there is a setting on Whatsapp which prevents the user being added to unknown groups. To set this feature they need to do the following:
- Open WhatsApp and tap Settings. In Android , Settings is located under the three vertical dots at the top right.
- Tap on Privacy on the Settings screen
- Select Groups. You’ll see multiple options for “Who can Add me to a Group?”
- By default it’s set to everyone but this can be changed to be just people you know or it can exclude certain contacts.
If you are worried about any child, call the NSPCC helpline. In an emergency, call 999.
There are also plenty of specialist helplines. Visit reporting.lgfl.net to find out how to remove content from social media and where to report bullying, racial hatred, terrorism, sexual abuse and more. There are also links for children and young people to get help directly, such as Childline or The Mix (for 13-25s).
If you need support with any of the above, have a look at our Online Safety page or parentsafe.lgfl.net for lots of advice and support.