Meadowside Primary School

Meadowside Primary School – Keeping Our Children Safe Online

A guide for parents and carers

🌱 How Children Use the Internet Today

• 92.6% of children aged 10–15 go online every day, and 58.1% spend 3+ hours online on a typical school day.
• Even our younger learners are online more often. Half of 5–7‑year‑olds now watch live‑streamed content, which can sometimes include risks.

🐞 Stranger Danger… Online

Just as we teach children to stay safe in our school grounds, the same applies online.

• 19% of 10–15‑year‑olds have messaged someone online they’ve never met in person.
• 35% have accepted a friend request from someone they don’t know, and 4.4% have met someone they only spoke to online.

Tip:
Chat regularly with your child about who they interact with online—just like knowing their friends in the playground.

🌼 Harmful or Inappropriate Content

• 9.5% of 13–15‑year‑olds received a sexual message in the past year.
• More than 9,000 child sexual abuse offences in 2023/24 had an online element.

Tip:
Use parental controls, and let children know they can talk to you about anything they see that makes them uncomfortable.

🦋 Cyberbullying

• 19.1% of children experienced online bullying last year.
• Nearly 1 in 10 children aged 8–17 say people are unkind online “all or most of the time.”

Tip:
Encourage your child to save evidence, block/report unkind behaviour, and always tell an adult.

🌳 Gaming: Fun but Risky

• 31% of children who play online chat with people they don’t know, and 62% of parents worry about this.

Tip:
Keep gaming devices in shared spaces and check in on who your child plays with.

🐝 Social Media & Younger Children

• 38% of 5–7‑year‑olds already use social media.
• One‑third of parents allow 5–7‑year‑olds to use social media unsupervised.

Tip:
Most platforms have a minimum age of 13. If your child uses them younger, supervision is essential.

🌷 How Meadowside Helps

• Nearly 92% of children aged 8–17 nationwide recall learning about online safety in school—and find it helpful.
• At Meadowside, we use a scheme developed by local teachers called ‘Digital Futures’. It is updated every year to keep up with changes to technology and the online world. 
• If a concern is reported to us, we work with you, as parents and carers, to help solve it

💬 Let’s Keep Talking

Your partnership helps keep our Meadowside learners safe and confident.
If you have concerns or need advice, please speak to your child’s teacher or our safeguarding team.