Online Safety advice leaflets for parents/carers
Online Child Safety and the Metaverse
What is the Metaverse? The Metaverse seeks to link users to the internet as a Virtual Entity through the use of Virtual Reality Headsets. With more parents likely to buy their children VR headsets, this amplifies the danger children are exposed to online. To help you understand this new, fast changing issue and to help keep children and young people safe when delving into these unregulated spaces, the NSPCC has published a guide to both the Metaverse and VR headsets. Their parents’ guide covers straightforward advice for families on how to keep children safe when using virtual reality, including to:
- make the headset a family activity, taking turns and playing with it together
- take some time to explore the headset before allowing a child to use it
- talk to children about how they use VR. Make sure they know that personal information should not be shared with people they don’t know
- get to know the safety features the device offers. Make sure the location is set to private, use parental controls and check that privacy settings are switched on
- set healthy boundaries and manage your child’s screen time.
To find out more please follow the link:
Cyberbullying advice for parents
Cyberbullying is bullying that takes place using technology. Whether on social media sites, through a mobile phone, or gaming sites, the effects can be devastating for the young person involved. There are ways to help prevent a child from being cyberbullied and to help them cope and stop the bullying if it does happen.
Please use the links below to access advice on what to do if you think your child is being bullied online:
DfE Advice for Parents and Carers on Cyberbullying
Kidscape - Protecting Your Child Online
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Important WhatsApp information for parents and teachers |
In its latest updates WhatsApp - the popular Facebook-owned chat application has stopped asking for any age verification for new users - meaning any child in charge of a smartphone can easily use the application to share photographs and videos without their parents' ( or teacher's ! ) knowledge. |
What is the minimum age to legally use WhatsApp in the UK?
In the UK you need to be 16 to legally use WhatsApp. |
How can parents monitor their child's WhatsApp?
WhatsApp is secure and encrypted so it cannot be intercepted. You can, however, set up a second device allowing you to participate in their chats and conversations. You can access the information and guide on the parentshield.co.uk website here |
What precautions can Parents take? |
* Use a child-safe mobile network * Use Parental Controls to restrict app installation to chosen apps * Set privacy settings on any chat aplications to restrict sharing with known contacts only |
Why is WhatsApp dangerous?
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Why ParentShield different?
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