To support schools develop effective strategies to understand, prevent and respond to cyberbullying, leading online safety charity Childnet, as part of the UK Safer Internet Centre, is launching their new Cyberbullying guidance along with a practical toolkit for teachers. Having written the previous cyberbullying guidance for schools in 2007, Childnet have consulted with young people, teachers and leading experts to reflect the changed landscape of children’s technology use.
Childnet's CEO Will Gardner says:
“In the wake of recent figures of an 88% increase in calls to Childline about cyberbullying in the last five years, it is crucial that school leaders understand the positives and negatives of internet culture within their communities and have the management strategies required.
“We know that cyberbullying is the key online safety issue that schools face; and we know the serious long-lasting impact it can have on children. In the development of our guidance and teaching resources we have been consulting with young people, teachers and experts to collect practical strategies for effectively preventing and responding to cyberbullying.”
Providing schools with practical solutions
Funded by the Government Equalities Office and European Union, Childnet seeks to equip schools with best practice on dealing with cyberbullying in their school communities with an up-to-date guidance to schools on preventing and responding to cyberbullying, as well as a practical online safety toolkit for teachers to use within PSHE lessons.
Accredited as a PSHE Association Quality Assured Resource, the toolkit will help teachers cover areas such as cyberbullying, sexting and peer pressure, as well as providing advice to teachers if they are being cyberbullied themselves. Childnet have also created innovative film resources to accompany the online safety toolkit, empowering young people to learn and engage with technology in a positive way.
These two resources, the guidance and toolkit, are being launched today to support Anti Bullying Week, organised by Anti Bullying Alliance.
Women and Equalities Minister Caroline Dinenage says:
"Cyberbullying, like all forms of bullying, must not be tolerated. Schools should be a safe place where children can grow, learn and discover who they are.
"I am proud that the Government Equalities Office is supporting the UK Safer Internet Centre's new cyberbullying guidance and online safety toolkit. These resources will play an important role in helping to support teachers in understanding and dealing with this issue. To help stamp out bullying for good, we are also investing £4.4million on anti-bullying projects across the country."
About Childnet
Childnet is a UK-based charity set up to empower children, families and schools in the digital age, and its vision is to make the internet a great and safe place for children. Launching in 1995, just two years after the public launch of the open web, it has stayed at the cutting edge of the latest tech trends by speaking to thousands of children and parents face-to-face each year. Childnet has created a number of innovative resources and projects, from the app version of its celebrated children’s storybook, Digiduck’s Big Decision, to its Childnet Digital Leaders Programme which seeks to place young people at the forefront of creating a better internet. In 2010 Childnet was appointed by the European Commission as the UK Safer Internet Centre, together with SWGfL and IWF. In this role Childnet coordinates Safer Internet Day, which reached 40% of UK youth in 2016.
All of Childnet’s resources and advice are available at www.childnet.com.
For Media Enquiries contact Maithreyi Rajeshkumar: maithreyi@childnet.com, 020 7639 6967, @childnet
