Blog – Latest stories

Next week sees both Stand Up To Bullying and Stop Cyberbullying Day address the issue of bullying

In figures released by charity Ditch the Label in their latest bullying survey, 1-in-2 young people have experienced bullying, with 1-in-10 having been bullied within the past week. In addition, their research revealed that young people feel that social networks are not currently doing enough about online bullying, with many feeling unsafe online.

Empowering pupils to take the lead on tackling bullying can help in schools, and participating in the forthcoming anti-bullying campaigns taking place next week can help enforce the message.

Stand up to Bullying Day - June 13th 2018
Stand Up To Bullying Day was started in 2016 by The Diana Award with HRH The Duke of Cambridge and aims to raise public awareness about bullying and its long term effect, create understanding about our collective role in tackling bullying and to empower the public with the tools to stand up to bullying; wherever they are.

Whether you're looking to support on social media, run a session in your school or review your anti-bullying policy there's plenty to get you going. Schools can download a resource pack with ideas for activities and fundraising events to support anti-bullying and the Stand Up To Bullying campaign. There is also a Thunderclap where schools can show their support.

Stop Cyberbullying Day - June 15th 2018
Stop Cyberbullying Day was founded by The Cybersmile Foundation on June 17th 2012, to promote online positivity and good digital citizenship.

Since then, every year on the third Friday in June, Stop Cyberbullying Day has become a growing force of positivity.

Stop Cyberbullying Day encourages people around the world to show their commitment toward a truly inclusive and diverse online environment for all – without fear of personal threats, harassment or abuse.

To get involved you can use the hashtag #STOPCYBERBULLYINGDAY on the day with your content (images, videos, articles) to let people know you are participating on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube - supporting a brighter, kinder internet. Schools can also sign up to pledge their support via the Thunderclap campaign leading up to the day.

Join our FREE Membership service for our bullying assembly resource. E-safety Support members can also download cyber bullying specific resources and distribute Internet safety training. Safeguarding Essentials members have access to the full suite of cyber bullying and bullying resources including policies, teaching resources and staff training. Find out more.

What is live streaming, why do young people do it and what are the risks?

In figures release today by children's charity Barnardo's, their new survey conducted by YouGov found that 57% of 12-year-olds and more than one-in-four children aged 10 (28%) have admitted live streaming content over the Internet.

The figures also revealed that almost a quarter of 10 to 16 year-olds (24%) say they or a friend have regretted posting live content on apps and websites. But what is live steaming and what is the attraction?

What is live streaming?
Live streaming is the broadcasting of live events as they happen, over the Internet, to a potentially unlimited audience base. Websites or apps can be used to live stream and, depending on particular preferences and settings, events can be broadcast to the world or a selected audience. Typically, mobile phones are used to live stream due to their portability and their built-in cameras, but webcams connected to laptops or computers can also be used.

Why do young people live stream?
Being able to share news, an event or an opinion with the world is particularly appealing to modern generations, who have grown up with mobile technologies and are used to being constantly connected. Inspired by online celebrity live streamers, young people may have a desire to share their lives online too and some want to follow in the steps of their online heroes.

Young people may live stream whilst they are playing games so that their audiences can watch and share in their experiences, they may broadcast a special event, such as a party, or they may just want to interact with strangers.

What are the risks?
When broadcasting over the Internet, it’s easy for young people to feel safe due to physical boundaries and this itself leads to increased vulnerability. People may attempt to trick, blackmail or coerce children during a time when their typical defences are down, and this may lead to riskier behaviour. In cases of online grooming, predators have targeted children and used trickery and grooming techniques to get them to perform acts of a sexual nature in front of the camera. This is classified as a ‘non-contact’ abuse offence, but is still sexual abuse.

Young people may not have an understanding of how what they are broadcasting could be saved and shared further and they may not know that people watching may not be who they say they are.

Research this month from the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) found that children as young as three had exposed themselves online, that 96% of the victims were girls and that in almost all of the cases that they investigated, children were broadcasting from their home environments. Read more at www.iwf.org.uk

Helping young people keep safe
It’s imperative that all young people using online services have a good understanding of key online safety messages:

The importance of protecting their private information;

The knowledge that people may pretend to be people they’re not;

The understanding of what they share online can be saved and shared by others;

The knowledge of what to do if they are being bullied or coerced;

The importance of asking for help if needed.

It’s also important that younger generations have a secure understanding of healthy relationships; that they shouldn’t feel under pressure to act in a certain way, that no one has the right to ask them to do something that makes them feel uncomfortable and that their bodies are theirs.

Personal, social and health education, alongside quality sex and relationships education from an early age, could help reduce incidences of online abuse.

Resources for professionals and parents

Primary-aged children:

Play Like Share

I saw your willy video

Secondary-aged children:

Matt Thought He Knew

The E-safety Support membership package available from Safeguarding Essentials offers an extensive range of resources supporting Internet safety education including teaching resources and training for staff across a range of topics - Find out more

To ensure you receive notifications when articles are published, join our free membership service today!

What schools need to know about the impending changes to the Working Together to Safeguard Children guidance

On 26 February 2018, the government released their response to the ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ consultation, which sought views on the proposed changes to Working Together to Safeguard Children and the draft regulations required to commence the Children and Social Work Act 2017. While not all of the changes impact schools directly, it is important that schools have an understanding of how local safeguarding arrangements will be changing.

The key points for schools
The main change impacting schools is that ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ will include an expectation that all local safeguarding arrangements contain explicit reference to how safeguarding partners plan to involve, and give voice to, all local schools and academies.

Currently, schools have a legal duty to safeguard their pupils; however, they do not need to be consulted on how other agencies deal with safeguarding – the updated statutory guidance will change this.

Despite calls from “a significant number of respondents” for schools to become a fourth safeguarding partner, the government will not go forward with this proposal because the statutory guidance is not able to amend structures set out in law.

Safeguarding partners
The Children and Social Work Act 2017 replaces Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCBs) with new local safeguarding arrangements, which are led by three safeguarding partners. The safeguarding partners will be:

the Local Authority

the Clinical Commissioning Group

the Chief of Police

Some of the functions of the safeguarding partners are no different to those of the LSCBs currently. However, we don’t know if this will look different in your area. Some of these functions are:

to provide multi-agency training.

develop and publish a threshold document which outlines how multi-agency safeguarding arrangements work in their area.

publish a report at least once every 12 months, setting out what they and their relevant agencies have done as a result of the safeguarding arrangements, and how effective the arrangements have been.

In relation to relevant agencies:

The Local Safeguarding Partner Regulations will be revised to include entries for sport and religious organisations.

The statutory guidance will be reviewed to ensure the responsibilities of agencies are clearly explained.

In relation to the involvement of schools:

All relevant statutory guidance, including ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’ will clearly explain the roles and responsibilities of schools.

As mentioned, the statutory guidance will set the expectation that all local safeguarding arrangements contain explicit reference to how safeguarding partners plan to involve, and give voice to, all local schools and academies.

Reviews and the national panel
A new system of national and local safeguarding practice reviews will replace serious case reviews.

In relation to reviews:

Safeguarding partners must undertake a concise investigative exercise where they receive information about a safeguarding incident within five working days of notification.

Child death reviews
The Children and Social Work Act 2017 outlines the role of child death review partners.

In relation to child death reviews, the following was confirmed:

The child death review process will consider and identify contributory factors to a death that could be modified to reduce the risk of future child deaths.

The government intends to provide bereaved families with a key worker to act as a single point of contact during the child death review process.

Every child’s death will be reviewed at a child death review meeting involving practitioners directly involved with the child’s care, prior to being discussed by the Child Death Overview Panel (CDOP).

What’s next?
An updated version of Working Together to Safeguard Children will be published and the new safeguarding arrangements will come into effect. Local areas will have 12 months from this May to develop and publish their arrangements and an additional three months to fully implement them. You should be notified about these new arrangements at some point during this period.

Your thoughts?

How do you feel about the proposed changes? How will they impact you and your school? Do you see these as changes for good? Please share your thoughts using the comments section below.