Advice for parents/carers and the local community:
- Talk to your child about who they are talking to online and encourage them to think before talking to people they do not know in person
- Try to understand and guide your child’s online behaviour – negotiate and establish boundaries and discuss sensitively the issues around the concept of ‘friends’
- Familiarise yourself with the electronic device and the ‘apps’ your child uses. Find out more about its built-in safety functions and how they can be contacted within the service
- Ask your child if they know how to block someone who they do not want to talk to anymore. If they do not, help them to learn how to use the blocking feature
- Use parental control software provided by your internet service provider, mobile phone network, online content provider or games console and consider using filtering options, monitoring and setting time limits for access to chat
- If you discover misconduct between your child and someone online stay calm, investigate the facts and seek expert help if needed
- As part of a wider discussion about sex and relationships cover how people may use the internet to explore their sexuality, which may include sexual chatting. Do not post/share inappropriate photographs, you may be committing a criminal offence
Visit www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents for more information on internet safety.
Please remember that Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, Snapchat and Kik social media websites all have an age restriction of 13 years. Whatsapp has an age restriction of 16 years. Any student below this age should NOT have one of these accounts.
If you would like to report a safeguarding concern and the Academy is closed you can speak to someone at Medway Council by calling the Social Care Duty Team on 01634 334466 (out of hours 08457 626777).
Students can also report any concerning interactions they have had online on the CEOP website
National Online Safety
Please see a letter about our work with National Online Safety here, which contains useful resources including weekly guides, Parent and Carer courses, online resources and more: National-Online-Safety-Letter
For the Parent and Carer Guide, please see here: Parents-User-Guide-NOC
