We recently invited parents to attend an evening presentation focused on keeping chidlren safe online and recent events featured in national press have now led to further advice and guidance from Hampshire Coustablary for parents and carers.

We hope you find it appropriate and helpful to remind you about the responsible use of such devices and some useful resources to help you and your children stay safe online.

In regard to recent events, Hampshire Constabulary have publshed a letter addressed to parents advising them of the recent safeguarding incident involving young people and subsequent actions that have been taken. They also remind us of the responsibilities that parents and children have with regard to any materials related to this particular instance, or any other where the safety of any child may be at risk.

Advice from the police is very clear: if children and young people receive content that may compromise the safety or welfare of another person on any social media platform, be it Snapchat, Instagram, WhatsApp or any other channel, they should delete it immediately and tell a trusted adult – a teacher or parent for example. Children using social media must understand that if they show content that may compromisee the safety or welfare of another person to someone else or forward it on to other people, they could be committing a crime. The aim of the police and other parties working to keep children safe online, including Hook Junior School, is to stop the sharing of harmful content. The police are also clear that they do not want to criminalise children and that people won’t be in trouble if they’ve made a genuine mistake.

Gooseberry Planet have kindly shared with us several guides that explains each technology or application and offers guidance for you to follow to ensure that you fully understand the implications of your child(ren) using the services. There are three documents, one for video streaming , one for Snapchat and another for Instagram .

If you have any concerns about the safety of your children online or would like to know more, there is further support and advice in our e-Safety Guide within the Parents section of the school website. The guide covers all aspects of the safeguarding agenda and includes resources that are useful for parents and children.

All urgent safeguarding matters should be reported directly to the CEOP website at https://www.ceop.police.uk/safety-centre.

If you have any safeguarding concerns that you would like to discuss with us, please ask to speak with one of our appointed child protection liaison officers:

• Mrs Martin, Headteacher, Designated Safeguarding Lead and Child Protection Liaison Officer
• Miss Westaway, Deputy Headteacher, Designated Safeguarding Lead and Child Protection Liaison Officer
• Mrs Bailey, Assistant Headteacher, Child Protection Liaison Officer
• Miss Carne, Child Protection Liaison Officer

Our website includes a guide to online safety and a href="http://www.hook-jun.hants.sch.uk/index.php/parents/e-safety-for-parents>can be accessed via the parents section.

In addition to this, further advice is available on Hampshire County Council’s website. If your children are use the internet, you may find it helpful for them to be aware of and to have viewed the Thinkuknow website. Finally, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) provide guidance aimed at keeping children safe online.