Academy Safeguarding Information

Please click here for the Academy’s Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy.

To report a safeguarding concern to the Academy, please email safeguarding@wgacademy.org.uk.

Childline

Allegations of sexual abuse

Guidance on safety whilst using Snapchat and TikTok

ThinkuKnow Resources for a safer online experience

Access to new tech can provide new opportunities for children and young people but also present risks.

Thinkuknow has a guide for parents which looks at how they can support their child to be safer online this season by focusing on 3 key areas: viewing, sharing, chatting and friending.

4 steps you can take to help children stay safer

Thinkuknow’s new post takes you through the importance of conversations with children and young people about communicating safely online, helping them to understand how to report anything worrying, and reminding parents and carers about setting up parental controls.

You’ll also find examples of resources that you can use to build on these conversations and develop skills and knowledge in the new year.

Help us learn more about young people and the dark web

Thinkuknow are currently working with The Children’s Society and Marie Collins Foundation to find out more about young people’s experiences using the dark web, and how they can be protected from encountering the associated risks.

Inappropriate Content Online

Over the last few months, we have seen an increase in the number of schools reporting that students, while at home, have accessed content which is not always appropriate, some of which has been quite scary or upsetting. We have also had a report of worrying trends on TikTok encouraging nudity from its users. This can have legal implications for our children and young people that they often aren’t aware of.

While there is no perfect way to eliminate this risk, we feel that there are things parents and carers can do to support their children online, reduce the risk or manage it after the fact. Remember to keep lines of Communication open with your children and young people. Just like we ask them how their day was at school and what they got up to it is equally important to have this conversation about their Online lives. If you can keep technology out of the bedrooms and private spaces this is also an effective tool in safeguarding our children.

Here are some more practical steps parents and carers can follow:

Have you heard about Tik Tok Family Pairing newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/tiktok-introduces-family-pairing.  Family pairing allows adults to link their accounts to their teenagers account so you can customise their safety settings such as content, privacy and well being settings.

It’s important to remember that no filters or controls are 100% effective so make sure your child knows that they can, and should, talk to someone if they see or hear anything upsetting online so we can offer them some reassurance. This information from Thinkuknow might be useful www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/articles/Im-worried-my-primary-aged-child-might-see-something-inappropriate-online/