Online Safety Post 25.1.24

ONLINE SAFETY POST

IS YOUR CHILD READY FOR A SMARTPHONE?
"Is my child old enough to have a phone?" It's a common, understandable question that many parents and carers ask. It's also very difficult to answer as there are so many factors involved. For younger children it's often peer pressure, with older children, social isolation is very common. Often, the answer may vary depending on the child and situation, rather than a 'one-size-fits-all' solution.

The Institute for Digital Media and Child Development have put together some tip sheets for parents which I think are really useful. There are 3 parts:

- Assessing readiness.
- Preparing for healthy use.
- What now?

You can view all the tip sheets here:
https://www.childrenandscreens.org/learn-explore/research/introducing-a-smartphone-assessing-readiness/

Please remember that our school policy is that children must not bring phones into school. The only exception is made for individual cases in Year 5 or 6 where a parent or carer might want their child to have a phone on the way to or from school for safeguarding reasons. A phone contract must be agreed to and signed and the phone is locked away in the school day.

Please find attached a poster with some useful smart phone safety tips to help keep children safe whilst using a smart phone.

As always, please visit our school website for more useful online safety advice and resources.
https://www.southwarkprimary.net/safeguarding/e-safety/

Thank you.

Mr Skirton