E SAFETY ALERTS

15.09.23- Siren Head

It has come to our attention that a number of children are watching clips on You Tube or playing the game Siren head whilst they are at home.

Siren head is an aggressive  predator making him a dangerous threat. It is an extremely violent monster who causes harm, serious injury or even death to others.

The age for Siren head is 18 and therefore no children should be watching anything regarding this. 

Should we continue to have further reports from any child, we will report to the relevant authorities. Allowing children to access inappropriate material online is against the law.

Please ensure you are monitoring what your child is watching online, especially You Tube at all times.

Do NOT allow your child to watch their tablet, IPAD or computer in their bedroom alone unsupervised.

Many thanks for your support.

ONLINE SAFETY NEWLETTERS

We have joined together with the National Online Safety (NOS) Campaign so together we can make it our mission to make the internet a safer place for children. We believe that through engaging Online Safety resources and through equipping parents and children with the knowledge they need to understand online dangers, we can together make a difference.

The NOS provides guides for parents as part of their #WakeUpWednesday campaign and it is viewed as one of the most trusted and reputable learning resources in the UK, providing expert advice on the latest platforms and online risks that parents and carers need to know about.

We shall be sharing these weekly guides with parents every Wednesday via our Parent Hub App and they are also available below. 

Parents and Carers Guide to Inappropriate Online Content

Inappropriate Content Online Advice for Parents and Carers

A Message from Lincolnshire Safeguarding Team

Over the last few months, we have seen an increase in the number of schools reporting that students, while at home, have accessed content which is not always appropriate, some of which has been quite scary or upsetting. We have also had a report of worrying trends on TikTok encouraging nudity from its users. This can have legal implications for our children and young people that they often aren’t aware of.

While there is no perfect way to eliminate this risk, we feel that there are things parents and carers can do to support their children online, reduce the risk or manage it after the fact. Remember to keep lines of Communication open with your children and young people. Just like we ask them how their day was at school and what they got up to it is equally important to have this conversation about their Online lives. If you can keep technology out of the bedrooms and private spaces this is also an effective tool in safeguarding our children.

Here are some more practical steps parents and carers can follow:

• Contact their Internet Service Provider (ISP): Companies that provide broadband such as BT, Sky and Virgin, offer free protection for parents and carers. They can filter your internet connection directly, without having to install anything. Guide on how to use this can be found here: https://www.internetmatters.org/parental-controls/broadband-mobile/
• YouTube is a fantastic resource, but not all the content is appropriate for children and not all YouTube channels are made for young audiences. YouTube has an app just for children – YouTube Kids – but many people don't realise that the main YouTube app has a restricted mode. Check out more about how it works here: https://www.internetmatters.org/parental-controls/entertainment-search-engines/youtube-app/
• Parental Controls for Devices - https://www.internetmatters.org/parental-controls/smartphones-and-other-devices/
• Games consoles have features that can limit what games they can play based on the age ratings and can even turn off certain features to allow gaming to be a little safer. To learn more about these features visit https://www.internetmatters.org/parental-controls/gaming-consoles/
• Games are also rated based on the content; not how difficult they are. 18 rated games can have very graphic violence, adult language and themes, sexual content, and horror elements. Learn a bit more about appropriate games by visiting https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/articles/gaming-whats-appropriate-for-your-child/  or visit this site for more about game ratings https://parentzone.org.uk/article/pegi-games-ratings-explained
• Social Media privacy guide - https://www.internetmatters.org/parental-controls/social-media/

Have you heard about Tik Tok Family Pairing https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/tiktok-introduces-family-pairing Family pairing allows adults to link their accounts to their teenagers account so you can customise their safety settings such as content, privacy and well being settings.

It's important to remember that no filters or controls are 100% effective so make sure your child knows that they can, and should, talk to someone if they see or hear anything upsetting online so we can offer them some reassurance. This information from Thinkuknow might be useful https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/articles/Im-worried-my-primary-aged-child-might-see-something-inappropriate-online/

Kathryn Smith
Community Safety Strategy Coordinator lead for Preventative Education

#WakeUpWednesday

A guide on 'Whats App' 16+

WhatsApp is the most widely used messaging platform on the planet, with over two billion users (forecast to become three billion by 2025), across more than 180 countries. The majority of those people (70%) open the app at least once a day – but what exactly are they seeing? Contact from strangers, fake news and convincing scams are all among the service’s well-documented hazards. 

 According to Ofcom, WhatsApp is used by more than half of 3- to 17-year-olds in the UK (including one in three from the 8–11 bracket), despite its 16+ age restriction. If your child hops onto WhatsApp to stay in touch with friends or family, our updated #WakeUpWednesday guide to the service contains the key details you’ll need to support them in doing it safely.

SQUID GAMES

Netflix’s Squid Game is set to become the streaming service’s most successful show of all time, with huge numbers of viewers taking to social media to discuss each new episode. The South Korean thriller features some scenes of fairly brutal violence and is rated 15 by the BBFC. It follows a group of adults who compete to win innocent-looking playground games, but who are killed if they do not succeed at the tasks.

Squid Game’s 15 rating has not prevented clips and images from the show being uploaded onto social media sites such as TikTok, with the #SquidGame hashtag being viewed more than 22.8 billion times. There have been reports of children who have accounts on these platforms inadvertently viewing gory, explicit scenes from the programme, and parents and carers should be mindful of the prevalence of these uploads. 

Further Guidance

Online safety guidance:

These resources provide guidance for parents and carers to keep children safe online. They will, amongst other things, support you to talk to your child about a range of online safety issues, set up home filtering in a child-friendly way and set up age-appropriate parental controls on digital devices:

• Thinkuknow by National Crime Agency-CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection) provides resources for parents and carers and children of all ages to help keep children safe online
• Childnet has developed guidance for parents and carers to begin a conversation about online safety, as well as guidance on keeping under-fives safe online
• Parent Info is a collaboration between Parent Zone and NCA-CEOP, providing support and guidance for parents and carers related to the digital world from leading experts and organisations
• NSPCC has guidance for parents and carers to help keep children safe online
• UK Safer Internet Centre provides tips and advice for parents and carers to keep children safe online - you can also report any harmful content found online through the UK Safer Internet Centre

If you have any safeguarding concerns then please contact your child's class teacher in the first instance or Mrs L Wilson, the Designated Safeguarding Lead, on enquiries@bracebridge.lincs.sch.uk