A recent article from the BBC on research completed for the UK Safer Internet Centre identified that “children are at a risk of being groomed for sexual abuse because some schools are failing to adequately protect them from online harms”. As children are having to rely on the internet for home schooling as well as socialising and entertainment it is vital that schools  take measures to protect children, with internet monitoring, content filters as well as training for staff. As the UK Safer Internet Centre director David Wright acknowledged “Online safety should always be considered a priority. If children are not kept safe and aren’t taught about the potential risks of being online, they could be left vulnerable to exploitation or abuse”. The real shame about this is it should be a priority for local governments, who frequently in their haste to support a lack of devices for children, in order to assist schooling from home, only think about the hardware piece of the puzzle, rather than the software element which acts as a shield to protect them from inappropriate content and social media sites often used for grooming. We will continue to try and educate around this to governments, parents and teachers.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-54356533