Dear parents/carers of children in Year 5 & Year 6,
The school is aware that yesterday mis-information has been shared by some children across social media and that this is causing upset for some children. Sadly, and worryingly this is an example of children accessing social media platforms outside of school in an unsupervised way.
Yesterday we held an emergency assembly with Year 5 children to explain the harm that this may cause. A letter went out yesterday to all parents of Year 5 & Year 6, with information and guidance. The small number of children who were upset, were supported by the school’s senior staff and were informed of the immediate actions the school was going to take.
We have held a number of internet safety workshops, and most recently this has been for every class in the school, parent workshops were also offered. This was run by a company that specialises in safeguarding children and online safety . Our Year 6 children have had regular internet safety assemblies since they were in Year 5 and this has been supported by talks by the school’s safer police service which parents have been informed of.
The school is highly concerned that repeatedly children are bringing into school serious concerns and being very upset, and that this is predominantly being caused by misuse of social media. This is having a detrimental effect on their learning and emotional wellbeing. The school asks that you remove your child’s access to social media platforms with immediate effect. The guidance is clear in that they are too young to be accessing social media and this is clear evidence as to why.
Your support is appreciated,
Julie D’Abreu
Headteacher
