Hundreds of schools sign up for first ever national safety tool

In a ground-breaking move, the government has launched a new online tool for schools across the country to give parents the best possible advice and tips on preparing their children for adult life.

The new online service, called Parent Info, will give parents the information they need to help them navigate the minefield of issues children can now face on everything from spotting the warning signs of self-harm, to having a healthy body image and managing money in a digital world. As well as giving them the confidence and support to speak to their children on such sensitive issues, it will also provide them with pathways for where they can go for more hands on support on specific issues.

Up to 550 schools are already hosting the new government-funded site and the site itself has had 48,000 page views in the past month alone.

Cyber bullying, which is now more common than face-to-face bullying, is just one of the areas that Parent Info tackles.

Young people spend an average of 12 to 13 hours a week online and yet a survey by Ofcom has shown that 1 in 5 parents admit that they do not know enough about how they can help prepare their children for the risks of the online world.

We already know that:

• almost a quarter (23%) of girls between the ages of 9 and 16, say they’ve been upset about something that’s happened online
• girls are less likely to have a wide range of online safety skills
• among 9 to 12s, girls are less likely to say they can change privacy settings on social networks (25% of boys compared to 15% of girls), or block messages from someone they don’t want to hear from (30% of boys compared to 17% of girls)

100 schools have already tested and praised the Parent Info toolkit in an extended pilot that launched in January 2015, and in the first few weeks alone, the site had more than 30,000 views, with overwhelmingly positive feedback.

Source: gov.uk