In the News

Nearly a third of children now learn to use a mobile phone or a tablet computer before they can talk, a report has revealed. Some 29 per cent start using the gadgets as toddlers, with 70 per cent mastering them completely by primary school age.

Newly-released tablet computers from Tesco and Argos could put children at risk of stumbling across porn because they do not come fitted with filters, an expert warned last night.

Dull lessons and poor teaching have put a generation of young people off studying computer science to bolster their careers, former chief schools inspector Sir David Bell claims.

The mother of a 14-year-old who took her own life after being snubbed by schoolmates and targeted on the web has released an anguished poem she wrote before her death

Zipit is ChildLine’s first ever app, available for Android, Apple and BlackBerry smartphones (and iPod touch). It’s free to download and has handy tips and suggested responses that will help young people stay in control of their chat.

The home of Britain's World War II code-breakers will offer internet safety advice to children when it re-opens next year.

Facebook has removed a video clip showing a woman's decapitation and issued new rules about what can be shared on its site. The U-turn comes two days after the BBC revealed it had dropped a ban on images and clips showing extreme violence.

Almost one in five primary school age children who responded to a survey on internet use claimed to have met somebody they had only previously known online. Half of those children said they went alone to meetings in parks, cinemas, fast food restaurants, shopping centres and private addresses. For those who did take somebody with them, half of companions were parents.

More than half of children and young people in England accept cyber-bullying as a part of everyday life, a new survey has found. But parents and teachers say they do not feel they are equipped to deal with the growing problem of internet abuse. Campaigners warned that cyber bullying had become 'an everyday problem for today's children' and demanded better education to tackle the phenomenon.

Many children aged nine to 11 are indulging in very risky behaviour online, suggests a survey. Many are sharing personal information and playing games rated for much older children, found the survey drawn up by the ISC2 IT security education group.

Facebook is facing a backlash from campaigners after announcing it will allow millions of teenagers to open up their profiles to strangers.

Amazon has unveiled a new range of “family-friendly” tablets that allow parents to control how their offspring use the machines, as gadget-makers begin to target children in the run up to Christmas.

Facebook is allowing users under 18 to post publicly on the site for the first time.

An app that discreetly saves images and videos sent through "self-destruct" messaging service Snapchat has been created.

A FACEBOOK page created this week was shut down after causing outrage by posting users' profiles in an abusive way.

This latest series of conferences from Naace seeks to explore the challenges facing school leaders as they respond to the introduction of the National Curriculum particularly with respect to the subject Computing but perhaps more importantly, Computing across the whole of the school curriculum. The conference will provide support and guidance to school leaders on the implications of introducing computing in to the curriculum, the opportunities provided by computing across the curriculum and the research evidence that underpins best practice and the implications of this research for the curriculum.

The BBC's director general, Tony Hall, has announced plans to "bring coding into every home, business and school in the UK"

The UK has moved up the UN's net-connectivity table, leapfrogging Hong Kong and Japan to take eighth place

A subject called "computing" should be created to replace information and communications technology (ICT) in school, a report suggests.

A rising number of children are using portable tablet computers to access the internet without adult supervision, say experts. The use of handheld devices such as iPads by under-15s tripled in the past year, sparking fears they are able to bypass parental safety filters by using public wireless networks.