Tips for keeping safe while out and about

With darker evenings setting in it is worth considering how to keep yourself safe whether you are heading home after school or visiting friends at the weekend or in the evening.

• stay alert, and keep personal stereos/MP3 players turned off, so you can hear what's going on around you.
• stick to busy, well-lit roads, and avoid short cuts through alleyways
• if you think someone is following you, cross the road or go to a place with lots of people around, like a bus stop or shop.
• when travelling by bus, you child should try to wait by bus stops on busy roads.
• if someone tries to take something from you, hand it over do not try to fight.
• keep mobile phones and other valuables out of sight, and turn off your mobile phone ringer to avoid attracting attention
• tell someone you trust or use RGS Whisper Alert if you think others may be placing themselves in a dangerous situation. 

Social network safety

Recent events locally have involved young people being tricked by people on social media e.g. Facebook to meet them in St Andrews Park. There is a very good 5 point checklist for social media located here and specific advice for safer use of a range of social media here .

Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE)

Are you worried that a friend or child you know is at risk of being sexually exploited?

The National Working Group for Sexually Exploited Children and Young People defines sexual exploitation as:

“Sexual exploitation of children and young people under 18 involves exploitative situations, contexts and relationships where young people (or a third person or persons) receive ‘something’ (e.g. food, accommodation, drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, affection, gifts, money) as a result of them performing, and/or another or others performing on them, sexual activities.

Child Sexual Exploitation can occur through use of technology without the child's immediate recognition; for example the persuasion to post sexual images on the internet / mobile phones with no immediate payment or gain.

In all cases, those exploiting the child / young person have power over them by virtue of their age, gender, intellect, physical strength and / or economic or other resources. Violence, coercion and intimidation are common, involvement in exploitative relationships being characterised in the main by the child or young person’s limited availability of choice resulting from their social / economic and / or emotional vulnerability”

This is an issue that Redland Green School takes seriously. Students are made aware of the issues surrounding CSE and how to keep themselves safe through both curriculum time and assemblies/special events. 

Parents who have any concerns about CSE should contact the school’s safeguarding team immediately. The charity Barnado’s have produced an excellent leaflet that gives parents information and advice about protecting their children against sexual exploitation. This can be found on their website at http://www.barnardos.org.uk/spot_the_signs_parents.pdf.

Further guidance can be found at the NHS guidance website.

Are you video chat savvy?

Increasingly young people are using video chat platforms such as Skype/Facetime/oovoo to communicate online. These can be great ways to keep in touch but remember some key esafety principles.
hat

• stick with people you know in the real world.
• be very careful about the kind of personal information you give away when chatting on line.
• say 'no' if you feel uncomfortable with any requests while video chatting and tell an adult you trust.

Further guidance can be found here by clicking on video chat and webcams.

Safeguarding and Wellbeing

At RGS we are constantly reviewing the ways that we communicate messages to students and parents and we have decided to broaden the scope of the blog to cover issues with regard to safeguarding and well being. While we will retain the esafety message within this blog you will also begin to see a range of posts and advice relating to broader issues with regard to student well being.

We will also be communicating information directly to students via the new safeguarding email account that can then be targeted toward particular needs swiftly and efficiently.

Privacy and the internet

While parental control settings are a valuable resource in ensuring that web based content is directed toward the appropriate age range. We have often discussed on this blog that control software should not replace conversations that all families should have with regard to internet safety. You may like as a family to explore the notion that nothing is private on the internet and that we should adjust our use of the internet with regard to personal content accordingly.

The internet is a public space and there is a growing realisation that nothing is guaranteed private on the internet and if you do make a mistake online talk to someone. That could be someone at home, your mentor, head of house or any member of staff at school. If you believe that someone is behaving online towards you in a way that makes you feel uncomfortable, again please report it either by speaking to someone or using the CEOP button and or RGS Whisper.

Think you know has lots of really useful information select the age range that suits you.

Posting images and films online.

Webcams and video chat

Click on the link to view the presentation from this week's assembly

Parental Controls for gaming devices

Whether it is xbox or playstation, computer games are a central part of many students lives and while they are hugely entertaining there can be concerns about the amount of time a student may spend on games and the appropriateness of the content. The two most popular games consoles offer a range of parental controls that can enable you to set the content level and timings that the devices can be used amongst other controls. Remember that the starting point with regard to controlling access is the conversation that you have with your son or daughter as to why you feel that some control is necessary (please see the previous post with regard to setting up a conversation with regard to online safety). For advice on Playstation settings click here and for xbox click here

Snapchat: Friend or Foe

Snapchat is an application used to share photos, videos, text, and drawings. It’s free to download the app and free to send messages using it. It has become hugely popular in a very short space of time, especially with our students. There is one feature that makes Snapchat different from other forms of texting and photo sharing: in theory the messages disappear from the recipient’s phone after a few seconds.

This message will “self-destruct” in 10 seconds.

It is simple to use; you take a picture using your camera phone, select recipients from your contacts, decide how long you want the message to be visible for (up to 10 seconds), and click send.For the recipient, the process is very like getting a text message except they must keep their finger on the screen while viewing it. Also, the message disappears from their phone once the time limit has expired, although the details of the sender and the time stamp remain. The problem is that by using other apps a copy of the image could be taken and then circulated to others. This is a problem if the image that was sent could be seen as being embarrassing. As with all forms of online communication it is always a good idea to consider what could happen if that content becomes public. As always the message is think before you post. Check out the link here for more advice regarding safety settings on Snapchat.