Our children are constantly interacting online, sharing information and building relationships through social media and messaging apps. While the internet offers incredible opportunities, it also presents potential risks. As a school, and as parents, it's crucial to equip our children with the knowledge and skills to navigate the online world safely and responsibly.
Having worked in IT in schools for all of my adult life, I've seen a lot and I'm not surprised by much! However, recently the information about sharing of sexual images and videos online (known to children & young people as 'nudes') has shocked me. At a Police Scotland talk I heard about the issues they have been dealing with in this area - with all ages affected, but the main growth area of 'self generated' sexual images is in children aged 11-13. These are images they have taken themselves and chosen to share, either with someone they know, or someone they don't know. When young people are questioned it is common to hear the answer
"There's nothing wrong with nudes - everyone does it"
The Internet Watch Foundation have created a new campaign: Think Before You Share and I would recommend you look at the parents and carers section and having a conversation with your children. This particular site, which the images above are taken from, is aimed at teenagers, but the concepts and conversation topics can be applied to younger children too. We love that the site's first advice for young people is something we emphasise in school:
Tell a trusted adult
It also has good advice on how to remove images if mistakes have been made and images have been shared on the internet.
Internet Watch Foundation
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