Dear Parents
ONLINE COMMUNICATION
In my Grade assemblies this week I compared the current Covid-19 pandemic to the Spanish flu of 1918. I asked them what they thought were the major differences in terms of what the world has and had to address the pandemic. They had a number of ideas with the two most important being the advance in medical science and communication. I focused on the latter as it is difficult for any of our boys nowadays to imagine a world without multiple forms of instant communication with any part of the world, together with instant access to any information required. The concept of letters on mail ships taking 3-6 weeks to cross the ocean and a further few weeks to receive the reply is so, so far from the world they live in.
But as we know and we have to impress on our boys, while the internet and social media have enormous benefits, and have had in the medical advice and input into each country’s response to the virus, they can also be so easily abused. Therefore their online usage has to be carefully monitored; what they access, what they post, how they respond to whom, what they are following, what conversations they are part of, all of these have consequences for them and others.
What young people really struggle to believe is that when you press SEND you have no control over what you have written and it is essentially in the public domain. A boy’s iPad or phone is not a private diary – although boys will often complain that their privacy is being invaded when you check up on them – but as we know, every message they send could end up in the public domain. Emma Sadleir, the social media lawyer who has spoken across the country and produced books on the abuse of social media, tells young people to remember the three Ps. “Before you press SEND, are you happy that what you have written or the photographs or videos that you upload, be seen by your Parents, your Principal, the Police?” It really should simplify the decision but our boys do need training and monitoring to ensure that they are appropriate online at all times.
So, please ensure that you as the parent:
- institute online parental controls on what he can access, both on Wi-Fi and on his device - to assist you in setting up correct controls, please go to our iPad Programme website, namely iLearning Prep and view the parent advice page
- do not allow him to come to school with a sim card or VPN on his iPad – these will allow him to bypass our Wi-Fi with its controls and security settings
- control and limit screen time
- have your son’s password
- regularly monitor his usage and messaging (if you allow him on social media)
- ensure that his browser history is locked (a rule for iPads at school)
- control what apps are downloaded
- games: control which, when and how often
- no devices in your son’s bedroom after “lights out”
It is important to note that most social media abuse is reported to us by parents, as much of the abuse happens at home. At school we receive 12 hourly firewall reports. These reports indicate the most frequently accessed sites, our top users and which sites and users have been blocked. We follow up accordingly with the boys who have attempted to access inappropriate sites and games. We also do spot checks, have strict rules for usage, and through Apple Classroom can monitor each boy’s iPad usage in the classroom – which APPs are opened as well as access to the internet without permission.
So the monitoring really works and the consequences help us to educate our boys about the abuse of social media.
Kind regards
GREG BROWN
HEADMASTER |
