Daily Safeguarding Update

Two-thirds of parents placed no restrictions on children’s internet use during lockdown

A recent survey has revealed that many parents have not made use of internet restrictions, despite acknowledging their responsibilities.
This news comes despite the growing concerns of online harms for parents, within the context of national lockdowns and increased times spent online.
The findings are from a Twitter poll conducted by Menlo Security earlier this month, drawing 10,447 responses.
Just under two-thirds (63%) of respondents said they had placed no restrictions on their child’s internet usage during lockdown.
Forty-three percent of parents claimed they had not taken safety precautions because they thought it wasn’t necessary, with 20% claiming they had not done so because they felt internet safeguarding was too hard to control.
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An IT teacher has been jailed for having sex with a 15-year-old boy he groomed on Grindr.
Bolton Crown Court heard how the 40-year-old groomed the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, in a ‘sophisticated and highly effective manner’ between June and November 2019.
He pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual activity with a child, three counts of possessing indecent images of a child, engaging in sexual communication with a child, inciting a child to watch sexual activity, and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.
Sentencing Slater to five years and three months imprisonment, the judge Recorder Alex Leach described the offences as “reprehensible”.
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To learn more about the dangers of dating apps being used by children, select here.

The scheme, launched by YMCA WiSE alongside a group of Brighton University student volunteers, aims to raise awareness among fellow students and the wider community of child criminal exploitation.
The Wise UP to Exploitation campaign will also highlight links between child criminal exploitation and the sale and distribution of drugs in Brighton and Hove. 
Organisers say the social media campaign will start conversations about recreational drug use in Brighton and Hove and the impact on children and young people who are exploited through this process.
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To learn more about county lines, select here.

A social media influencer from East London has now called for social media platforms to ban face altering filters as they can cause unrealistic beauty expectations.
Faye Dickinson, 28, is the creator of the popular Instagram filter ‘Filter vs Reality’ that has been used by a number of famous faces such as Jameela Jamil and Jessie J, and has more than 171 million impressions.
The influencer created the filter as part of her goal to showcase how unrealistic social media can be.
She said “the idea was to create something unique to show people how these dramatic beauty filters rid selfies of skin textures, tones, scars, everything that makes you, and how it’s affecting our mental health”.
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Schools in Northern Ireland will be legally required to record all incidents of bullying and alleged bullying from 1 September.
They will also have to keep records of the motivation behind the bullying, the method involved and how the incident was dealt with.
That is according to guidance to schools from the Department of Education on new anti-bullying laws.
The laws also provide a legal definition of bullying in schools.
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