Our digital safeguarding team continually review and test social media platforms In the past week, they focused on TikTok, testing its safety features and the effectiveness of the platform’s ability to monitor and remove explicit content The team used a login of a 14 year old to see what content they
Instagram is set to release a new feature called Reels in the UK, potentially by August 2020. We have been keeping track of the release and here is what we know so far. Reels is Instagram’s attempt to match TikTok’s dominance of short form video sharing. The feature is aimed at Instagram’s
Do you receive our Safeguarding Alerts? Receive regular updates to help you safeguard children in a digital era. Creative Activity Pack As the lockdown begins to ease, we could all benefit from less screen time, give children in your care the opportunity to get away from
“We live in a data-driven world. Almost every transaction and interaction you have with most organisations involves you sharing personal data, such as your name, address and birth date. You share data online too, every time you visit a website, search for or buy something, use social media or send an email.” (ICO,
An influencer is someone with an online social media presence and with a large enough following to market or ‘influence’ their audience to buy products, services and goods. The truth is that anyone can be an influencer, and some are famous solely for being an influencer. Popular influencers often create and sustain a
Do you receive our Safeguarding Alerts? Receive regular updates to help you safeguard children in a digital era. Creative Activity Pack As the lockdown begins to ease, we could all benefit from less screen time, give children in your care the opportunity to get away from
You may have seen recent media reports about the re-emergence of online viral challenges. We monitor these closely to make sure our network has the information they need to protect children and young people online. In the last few weeks, we have seen reports of a reappearance of the Blue Whale Challenge.
Since the pandemic, many young people and their parents have reported struggling with their mental health. Mental health charity Young Minds found that 51% of young people in the UK said that the Coronavirus pandemic made their mental health a bit worse 32% said the situation has made their mental health
Do you receive our Safeguarding Alerts? Receive regular updates to help you safeguard children in a digital era. Creative Activity Pack As the lockdown begins to ease, we could all benefit from less screen time, give children in your care the opportunity to get away from
Have you checked your set up? The Family Sharing settings on Apple products are a great way to share music, TV, books or other purchases made on the App store with all the family. The feature allows you to set up ‘Parent’ and ‘Child’ accounts on Apple devices, which means the
“[The] daily routine [for my foster child] was a short walk [and] the rest of the day...was unlimited Fortnite in his room. He speaks of several attempts of strangers trying to contact him via the game.” (Ineqe Safeguarding Group Digital Safeguarding Survey, 2020) The world of gaming continues to evolve with 93% of
With over 30 years’ experience in education leadership, Dawn Hewitson is a Designated Safeguarding Lead and teaches Computer Science and Secondary Education at Edge Hill University. She sat down with us to discuss how to respond to sexting and image sharing. “If a child talks to you about
Do you receive our Safeguarding Alerts? Receive regular updates to help you safeguard children in a digital era. Creative Activity Pack As the lockdown begins to ease, we could all benefit from less screen time, give children in your care the opportunity to get away from
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to present challenges for safeguarding professionals and parents across the UK. We asked you what your concerns are in relation to keeping young people and children in your care safe online during this time. It is clear young people are spending more and more time online, exposing themselves to higher
This week, the government published the update of ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’ for September 2020. Due to the onset of Coronavirus, the consultation for this update was suspended in March. They have now published the full update with some key changes. We have highlighted 3 of the main changes you should be aware
Smart speakers have grown in popularity among many households in the UK. Recent research found that over 1-in-5 UK households had a smart speaker as of the end of June 2019. That means that 5.8 million households in the UK now use a smart speaker for things such as listening to music, setting
Do you receive our Safeguarding Alerts? Receive regular updates to help you safeguard children in a digital era. Creative Activity Pack As the lockdown begins to ease, we could all benefit from less screen time, give children in your care the opportunity to get away from
As schools begin to gradually re-open, it is essential that all staff are prepared for potentially sensitive conversations that may take place. With pupils having spent a long time at home and out of school, many teachers have expressed concern about the needs of pupils once they return. It is important that staff feel prepared
How young people tell their ‘story’ through Social Media From a young age, children become immersed in a world of stories, which aid children’s development as it heightens their imagination and exposes them to new language and emotions. These narratives are then used to shape their sense of reality as they grow
Do you receive our Safeguarding Alerts? Receive regular updates to help you safeguard children in a digital era. Creative Activity Pack As the lockdown begins to ease, we could all benefit from less screen time, give children in your care the opportunity to get away from
During Pride month, and throughout the year, it is important for everyone who works with young people to both educate themselves, and the young people in their care on the LGBTQ community. For teachers, safeguarding professionals and parents/carers, our Contextual Safeguarding Factsheet provides you with the information you need in
Do you receive our Safeguarding Alerts? Receive regular updates to help you safeguard children in a digital era. Creative Activity Pack As the lockdown begins to ease, we could all benefit from less screen time, give children in your care the opportunity to get away from
Facebook has launched a new function this week to help users manage the content they have shared on their profile. The new function is described by Facebook as a method “...to make it easy for you to curate your presence on Facebook to more accurately reflect who you are today.” The ‘manage activity’ function
Do you receive our Safeguarding Alerts? Receive regular updates to help you safeguard children in a digital era. Creative Activity Pack As the lockdown begins to ease, we could all benefit from less screen time, give children in your care the opportunity to get away from
How we use screens has changed how we live our lives. They make our education, work and social activities easier, quicker and slicker. As the national lockdown continues, young people will be spending more time indoors which means more screen time. For a while now, we’ve seen debates about screen time pass