Keeping Millfields Safe At Home & at School

As part of Millfields continuing awareness of Safeguarding, we will be sending out, to your inbox every Monday, a pertinent link or article about Keeping Children Safe in school and at home.

On this page, you can access all the links based on topics such:

• anxious child,
• children's mental health
• diversity role models
• safeguarding deaf & disabled children
• parental concerns about esafety and
• the impact of social media and electronic devices on children
• child friendly search engines
• concerns about the new app Tik Tok
• children's understanding of mental health and depression
• how online fraud can be targeted at and effect children
• secondary transfer advice
• developing character and resilience in children

 

Character and resilience in young people

The Department for Education (DfE) has announced a new advisory group of experts looking at how to support schools in England to run more activities to develop children's character and resilience and help disadvantaged young people to compete more equally with their advantaged peers in the labour market. Alongside this, a consultation has opened seeking views from teachers, community groups, parents and young people on the best non-academic activities for promoting resilience and character.

Click here for the accompanying document.

 

The anxious or worried child (Mentally Healthy Schools)

It's quite natural for children to worry and to be anxious at various stages of school and home life. Most children will learn how to manage their thoughts, feelings and emotions, but some may need extra support. This website is full of resources and is a good starting point for training and for working directly with children and families.

https://www.mentallyhealthyschools.org.uk/mental-health-needs/the-anxious-or-worried-child

 

Safe and positive use of electronic devices

Read up on PEGI ratings by clicking the link.

The Parent's Guide to Technology Human Rights Day was on 10th December so why not explore our digital rights and responsibilities online

Parents' concerns about the online world

The UK Safer Internet Centre has published a report on parents' worries about the online world.

Findings from research conducted by South West Grid for Learning (SWGfL) and the University of Plymouth include: parents' top concern was about children being exposed to online pornography; generally parents felt confident they could deal with an issue related to upsetting online content.

The UK research forms part of a larger collaborative study with Australia's eSafety Commissioner and Netsafe New Zealand.

Details can be viewed here: UK Safer Internet Centre

Further information: Parenting and pornography: findings from Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom

Read more on NSPCC Learning: Protecting children from online abuse

eSafety Advisors' Online Safety Magazine - January 2019

The latest edition of Alan McKenzie's #DITTO magazine has been published. #DITTO is a free online safety (e-safety) magazine for schools, organisations and parents to keep you up to date with risks, issues, advice and guidance related to keeping children safe online, with a view to enjoying and learning about technology.

Download here: https://www.esafety-adviser.com/latest-newsletter/

Diversity Role Models

Diversity Role Models seeks to prevent homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying in UK schools. They aim to stop bullying before it happens by educating young people about difference, challenging stereotypes and addressing the misuse of language.

Diversity Role Models have a range of workshops for staff,  pupils, governors and parents, including on diversity in faith. A fully-funded project means that in some targeted areas their  'Pathways to LGBT+ Inclusion' workshops are free.

Website: https://www.diversityrolemodels.org/

Keeping children safe online: online course

The NSPCC has updated its online training course about keeping children safe online.

Developed in association with Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP), the Child Protection Unit of the National Crime Agency, this course is for anyone who works with children.

Over four hours, the course helps adults understand what children and young people do online, why they take risks and how to respond to these risks. Topics covered include: harmful online content; sharing and sexting; sexual offending against children online; and bullying online.

Details can be viewed here: NSPCC Learning: Keeping children safe online: online course

Read more on NSPCC Learning: Protecting children from online abuse

Impact of social media and screen use on young people's health

The House of Commons Science and Technology Committee has published a report looking at the impact of social media and screen-use on young people's health following an inquiry launched in February 2018.

The report looks at: the risks, harms and benefits of social media and screens; resources for schools and parents; and regulation and guidance.

Recommendations include: the government should introduce a statutory code of practice for social media companies; a regulator should be appointed by the end of October 2019; and social media companies should be required to publish detailed transparency reports every six months.

The Committee also recommends the government sets a target to halve reported online child sexual exploitation in two years and all but eliminate it in four years.

View the information here: UK Parliament

Further information: Impact of social media and screen-use on young people's health (PDF)

Children and parents: media use and attitudes

Ofcom has published a report on children's media use in 2018.

Findings show that 16% of children aged 8-11 have seen something online that they have found worrying or nasty and that by age 12-15 this percentage has risen to 31%

Although at the moment most parents of 5-15 year olds think the benefits of the internet outweigh the disadvantages, increasing numbers of parents are now coming to the conclusion that the disadvantages of the internet outweigh the benefit

Source: Ofco

Further information: Children and parents: media use and attitudes report (PDF)

Parent Engagement - A Guide and Strategy (eSafety Advisor)

It can often be a challenge to help parents understand the best ways to keep their children safe online. Schools have often relied on inviting all parents and carers to a meeting. There are so many competing pressures on time, that these meeting are not always the most effective way to engage parents.

The eSafety Advisor, Alan Mackenzie, has written a guide to Parent Engagement, particularly with regard to online safety.

Alan says, 'It isn't a complete solution for everyone, there's no such thing, but I hope that by following the steps in the strategy it will help you to significantly increase your parental engagement.'

The guide is attached here

Child mental health

The Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families and the Evidence Based Practice Unit at UCL have published research looking at the relationship between mental health and school attainment, attendance and exclusions, in children and young people aged 11 to 14 in England.

Findings from a survey of more than 30,569 children and young people, collected as part of the Headstart programme which aims to improve the mental wellbeing of 10 to 16 year-olds, include: young people excluded from school were more likely to experience behavioural and attention difficulties, difficulties with peers and perceived stress; and children and young people experiencing higher levels of mental health, behavioural and attention difficulties, are likely to achieve lower levels of academic attainment and are more likely to be absent from school.

Further information can be viewed at these links: Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families

Learning from HeadStart: the relationship between mental health and school attainment, attendance and exclusions in young people aged 11 to 14

Swiggle.org.uk

Swiggle is an child-friendly search engine from the Online Safety experts at SWGfL. Designed to make searching the internet for images or content more than just a bit hit and miss. Swiggle can help you with your first steps on the road to better online searching.

Swiggle can be used on computers in school, and at home.

Find out more here: https://swiggle.org.uk

Online risks: vulnerable children and young people

Internet Matters has published a report highlighting the online risks different groups of vulnerable children face and the support they need.

Findings from a study of 2,988 children and young people aged 10 to 16 from the annual Cybersurvey by Youthworks show that: 58% of young carers and 48% of those in care said they had been cyberbullied, compared to 25% of those with no vulnerabilities; 40% of young people with self-reported mental health difficulties report having been cyberbullied, in contrast to 23% of those with none; and children and young people with hearing loss are five times more likely than their peers to say that the 'internet often left me with thoughts and feelings that were upsetting'.

View the web page here: Internet Matters

Further information: Vulnerable children in a digital world

Hub of Hope Mental Health Database

The Hub of Hope is the world's first of its kind mental health database bringing grassroots and national mental health services together in one place for the first time ever. Using the location of web browser or mobile devices, the cloud-based web application allows anyone, anywhere to find the nearest source of support for any mental health issue, from depression and anxiety to PTSD and suicidal thoughts, as well as providing a 'talk now' button connecting users directly to the Samaritans.

It is currently the biggest and most comprehensive resource of its kind, with more than 1,200 validated support networks already registered on the web app and this number increasing each day. It has been endorsed by the Samaritans and 25 other national mental health support organisations and trusts.

Find Mental Health support in your area here: https://hubofhope.co.uk/

Thinking creatively to safeguard d/Deaf and disabled children and young people (NSPCC)

One group of children and young people whose safeguarding needs can be overlooked are those who are d/Deaf and disabled. The NSPCC website has recently added information and resources to help understand the risks, developing policies that include young people's views and reflect on the relevant legislation.

Find the information here: https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/news/2019/march/thinking-creatively-safeguard-deaf-disabled-children-young-people

Note: What does d/Deaf mean? Deaf (with an upper case 'D') generally denotes someone who was born Deaf, and predominantly uses British Sign Language and culturally identifies with the Deaf community. On the other hand, deaf (with a lower case 'd') refers to someone who has become deaf over their lifetime and identifies with the hearing community. They will tend to use hearing aids or lip-reading.

Further information:

What are big D and little d?

https://www.deafax.org/single-post/2016/06/08/What-are-big-D-and-little-d

 

Child safety on TikTok: parent factsheet

This factsheet provides parents with an overview of the main concerns of the app, as well as offering actionable safety options to ensure that their child is protected.

Online Fraud

Whilst we often talk to children and young people about the safe use of the internet, often these warnings are about online predators and privacy concerns. One area that I think is less well publicised is online fraud.

Victims of a phone bank scam have lost tens of thousands of pounds. People you would never have thought would have been taken in. These scams are sophisticated and it is easy when we are busy, to accept things at first sight.

These links will explain the scam and hopefully helpful prevent more victims.

Fake NatWest text messages appearing in message thread

https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/alert/fake-natwest-text-messages-appearing-in-message-threads

Phone Scams : Financial Fraud Action

https://www.financialfraudaction.org.uk/consumer/advice/phone-scams/

Fraudsters targeting online gamers

https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/alert/fraudsters-targeting-online-gamers

 

Children's Understanding of Depression (Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health)

The website of the Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH) is an excellent resource to help us better understand they mental health of young people. In a recent article, Prof Williams, Dr Taylor, and Dr Georgakakou Koutsonikou from the University of Edinburgh, talk about their research with 38 children aged 8/9 years old and 67 children aged 11/12 years to explore how they understand depression as it affects children and adolescents.

The researchers read three stories to the children and then asked a series of standard questions about:

Identity (its symptoms and label)

 

 

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