A reminder to all parents/carers that students should have their own personal email for anything outside of school. Bexley Grammar School email addresses should only be used for school communication.
Mr S Auckland
Deputy Head and Designated Safeguarding Lead
Dear Parents/Carers,
May I take this opportunity to remind carers and parents of the importance of checking children's phone settings? We have been made aware of young people receiving unwanted upsetting content on their phones outside of school because privacy settings have been left unlocked.
On a separate note, as we approach the summer break, internet matters have produced a handy guide to apps that support young people keeping active over their holiday:
https://www.internetmatters.org/resources/apps-guide/apps-to-help-kids-get-active/
Kind regards,
Dear Parents/Carers,
You will no doubt be aware of the many discussions taking place around Artificial Intelligence. One area of AI which has seen rapid increased popularity is that of chatbots and AI friends, which are available on many platforms, such as Snapchat. As ever, it is vital that we know what our young people are experiencing when using such technology, and that we are active in talking to them about it.
National Online Safety have produced this handy guide for parents to consider what carers and parents need to know about AI Virtual Friends.
Mr S Auckland, Designated Safeguarding Lead and Deputy Head
Dear Parents/Carers,
This week I would like to draw your attention to concerns around vaping. While in the past it may be marketed as a safer alternative to smoking, it is crucial for parents and carers to be aware of the potential risks associated with vaping.
Health Risks:
Vaping exposes individuals to various harmful substances, including nicotine, chemicals, and potentially toxic aerosol particles. The long-term effects of vaping are still being studied, but early research suggests it can lead to:
Gateway to Smoking:
Vaping can serve as a gateway to traditional cigarette smoking. Research indicates that young people who start with vaping are more likely to progress to smoking cigarettes later on.
Unknown Long-Term Effects:
Since vaping is a relatively new phenomenon, the long-term health consequences are not yet fully understood. However, early studies raise concerns about potential risks to overall health and well-being.
We would encourage you to explore resources on the risks of vaping. The following websites provide valuable insights and evidence-based advice:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
By educating ourselves about the dangers of vaping, we can have open and informed conversations with our children, helping them make healthy choices. It is important to maintain an ongoing dialogue with your child, discussing the risks associated with vaping and reinforcing the importance of making responsible decisions.
If you have any concerns or require further support, please do not hesitate to contact us.
The long-term health effects of vaping are still not clear, but the legal age to use or purchase vapes and associated materials is 18, and they should not be sold to, or used by, school children. As with any age-restricted item, bringing such material into school will have serious consequences.
Vapes are also ecologically disastrous: 1.3 million single-use vapes are being thrown in UK landfills every week: enough to cover 22 football pitches in a year. Single-use vapes made up 52 percent of all vapes bought in the UK amongst 18 to 34 year-olds last year.
We have heard that there are some newsagents and other outlets in the local area who have been selling vapes to under 18s without carrying out rigorous age checks. An additional concern is that some vapes are being designed to look quite innocuous, such as single use Elf Bars, pictured above.
Mr S Auckland, Designated Safeguarding Lead and Deputy Head
Useful new features on YouTube and YouTube Kids
YouTube is hugely popular, but historically parents haven't had a lot of control over what their children can/cannot watch. Things have changed and YouTube now gives parents and carers a greater degree of control. The page below has a few short videos of newer features that can help you on YouTube and YouTube Kids.
Personal Gmail accounts
Parents and carers may also wish to encourage children to set up their own Gmail account to be able to manage accounts for children much more effectively e.g. managing the account via a Google Family Link. Once done, parents can set up 'Supervised Experience' on YouTube which gives the option of 3 levels of content filtering, based on the age of the child, and managing this from a single parental account.
Please remember that students should not be using their BGS Gmail accounts for anything unrelated to school.
https://www.esafety-adviser.com/youtube-parental-restrictions/
Happy New Year,
Mr S Auckland, Designated Safeguarding Lead and Deputy Head
It can be difficult knowing all the different settings that are available on different devices to help protect children, this includes allowing or disallowing chat, friends, spending money, content filters and much more. On these pages from Internet Matters you will find the details, as well as
non-technical instructions, which will help you understand what is available to you and how to set up your child's devices.
Gaming consoles and devices
https://www.internetmatters.org/parental-controls/gaming-consoles/
Smartphones
https://www.internetmatters.org/parental-controls/smartphones-and-other-devices/
Broadband and mobile networks
https://www.internetmatters.org/parental-controls/broadband-mobile/
Entertainment and search engines
https://www.internetmatters.org/parental-controls/entertainment-search-engines/
With many children and young people using social media it is important to understand what features are available to you to help protect your children. This is also important because for the most part, all privacy settings are default 'off' when a new account is created, but also because some social media providers change their features quite frequently, e.g. TikTok.
You can look at this link to see what is available to you and how to set up your child's social media. We would also advise doing this with your child so that you can discuss the features together.
https://www.internetmatters.org/parental-controls/social-media/
Mr S Auckland, Designated Safeguarding Lead and Deputy Head
EE provides a course for parents and children to help navigate the world when using smartphones. This is available to users of any network. It covers key aspects of online behaviour, from cyberbullying to fake news and has fun quizzes, interactive elements and pop-up facts to help children learn vital online dos and don'ts. Parent and guardians also get their own dashboards to check on your child’s progress, follow the Episodes they are doing and get extra support and resources.
You can download this here:
Mr S Auckland, DSL and Deputy Head
