It Is Your First Impression

That is the first guiding principle of using your school’s website to build relationships with parents. How the parents see your presentation will influence how they think and feel about the school.

Creating a top website design breaks down negative barriers and replaces them with positive feelings. A good first impression provides a strong foundation for any parent/school relationship.

When you make a good first impression, it becomes easier to work with parents as they are more willing to be involved in your educational goals. Besides, you want your website to provide an accurate reflection of your school. A bad web design does not accomplish that goal.

What Is The Importance Of A Welcoming And User-Friendly School Website Design?

One of the most important aspects of having a welcoming and user-friendly website is that it builds trust. When parents feel welcomed and have a great user experience, then they are more open to participating in school events or just supporting the school.

Another important factor is that it is convenient for the parents to use. Their schedule is quite full these days and both the mom and dad cannot break away from their employment to talk to teachers or address child behavior issues.

A user-friendly website helps the parents communicate with teachers addressing concerns, etc., from wherever they may be. This ease of communication can resolve many conflicts or other orders of business.

Another important aspect is that a great-looking and easy-to-use website shows the parents that the school cares about education, communication, and their students. This type of website sends the right message to the parents, especially those who have potential students at younger ages.

It is a great way to let the parents feel comfortable about the school, its environment, and its culture as well as see that the school is serious about educating their students.

The Role Of The Website As A Digital Front Door To Your School

The school’s website is a digital front door to the school and its main duty is to provide a seamless, integrated experience that helps users get to the web page and information they need.

Without that characteristic, the school presents a very bad image of their ethics and attitudes toward education and parents. There are 4 things the school website should be doing:

1. It Needs To Be Organized– An organized website enhances the user experience making it a better time for parents and other website users.
2. Attract New Parents– Every school wants to bolster its attendance and one way to do that is to create and implement a user-friendly website that broadcasts a positive message to its readers.
3. To Engage And Inform– Another vital role for the school website. It needs to keep parents informed of all school activities and news.
4. Be Compatible With Devices And Schedules– Parents do not always use the same devices as students do thus the school website needs to meet parents on several platforms.

Then the access should be 24/7 without location restrictions. Parents are not always free to communicate during school hours and making that communication easier to access is a vital role the website has to fill.

What Is The Importance Of Having A Dedicated Portal For Parent-Teacher Communication?

One of the first reasons your school needs this dedicated portal is that it provides flexibility. Parents are not always available from 9 to 5 anymore. With both parents working, being able to communicate during school hours is almost impossible.

The ability to communicate with the teacher outside of school hours enhances the parent-teacher relationship as well as ensures that parents are made aware of how their child is progressing and behaving in school.

Plus, this portal offers privacy for the parents and they can honestly address issues without fear or rejection. They get to communicate their thoughts and keep those thoughts very clear.

It also provides a communication link for teachers to inform parents of their children’s behaviour and other important teacher concerns. With the knowledge of where the student is not performing up to expectations, the parent can address those issues at the appropriate time.

Finally, it is a chance for teachers to gain support from parents. This support is needed if the teacher is going to do their job well.

What Are The Benefits Of Surveys, Comment Sections, Or Contact Forms For Gathering Input From Parents And The Community

Feedback is always important. While not an accurate barometer for how the school is doing, feedback provides the teacher and the school insight into what parents are thinking about their students and the school.

Surveys allow for a school to re-evaluate some of its activities. Without this information, certain students and parents could be isolated from the school community and excluded from some events or special days.

The comment section provides instant feedback without holding back parental emotions. While this can be rough on teachers and schools, the communication does allow them to see where parents stand on certain practices the school employs.

The contact forms will do the same thing as the first two options in this section. It may be the fastest communication format as it instantly places the parental notice in front of someone’s eyes.

The school’s website needs a variety of feedback formats to ensure it is getting well-rounded information on key events, curriculum, and so on.

Some Final Words

When you want to make a great first impression, contact our company. We have years of school website design experience. Our knowledge and experience help us design the perfect first impression for your school.

You can use your phone, email, or our handy contact form to send us a message. We will be glad to get back to you as soon as we can. The best way to take advantage of our knowledge and experience is to contact us today with your concerns and questions.

Bullying has always been a problem. This is a fact that has to be acknowledged and understood. There will always be those kids who like to bully weaker, smaller children but understanding the problem is only the first step in helping children being bullied.

This is not a problem that will go away any time soon. Learning how to handle bullying and teaching those tips to your students is essential in reducing the number of bullying incidents.

Recognize The Signs Of Bullying In Primary School

Unfortunately, there are too many signs that indicate a student is being bullied at school. Here are just a few of those signs to get you on the right path to recognizing when bullying is taking place:

1. The child refuses or does not want to go to school
2. The child’s eating habits change
3. The child is not sleeping very well
4. The child’s belongings are damaged, lost or the child has visible injuries
5. The child avoids taking the school bus to school.
6. Their emotions change and he or she can become more withdrawn
7. The child gets sick more often and too frequently for real illnesses to be the source
8. The child experiences a loss of friends and they are always on their own

Encourage School Children To Tell You If They’re Being Bullied

It can be difficult to get a child to tell their parents or teachers that they are being bullied. The reason for that reluctance is that telling on the bullies only makes the situation worse and the bullies angrier.

To get the child to speak up, they need to feel safe and be in a safe environment that enhances their confidence in their parents or teachers. Some of the things that do not encourage the student to tell what is going on in their lives is to not make it a group activity.

The student should not have to talk about it in front of the class, nor should then be forced to be in the same room as the bully. Avoiding the don’ts of this problem is one good way to encourage the student to open up and let teachers or parents know what is being done to them.

Also, do not force the child to tell. Give them the opportunity and let them decide if they will talk or not.

Teach Your Child How To Cope With Bullying In School

There are different methods you can use to teach your child how to cope with bullying. One good method is to get them involved in after-school activities that do not involve their schoolmates.

This provides the bullied child a chance to make new friends. They will not be isolated anymore. Or teach your child to spend more time in groups. This will cause the bully to hesitate somewhat as they prefer two on one, etc., contact and not when the odds are against them.

Then, teach your child that bullying is not their fault. They did not do anything wrong, usually, that incited the bully to attack them. Give them a reason why the bully is targeting them and one good reason is that the bully is jealous of them.

One important lesson that helps a child cope with bullying is to believe them. Don’t pass it off or give a superficial response. Take the child seriously and then help them deal with the problem.

Be Aware Of Any Signs That The Bullying Is Continuing Or Getting Worse

Getting to know the signs of bullying is very important and those signs are listed above. But knowing those signs is not enough as in many cases they do not indicate that the bullying activity is getting worse.

One sign of excessive bullying would be how the child acts. He or she can fall into depression when the bullying only intensifies. Declining grades will be another sign that bullying is getting worse.

A loss of interest in hobbies, sports, or other favourite activities will be another indication that the bullying has not stopped but has increased.

Create A Safe And Supportive Home Environment In Every School

The steps to achieving this objective are many. One good option to use is to reward those students who practice the proper inclusive character that all students need to feel.

Another is to teach teachers how to spot bullying and bullies and give them the tools to stop it before it gets worse. One of those tools can be an anonymous reporting process. This can be done by phone or through the school’s website.

 

A fourth option would be to monitor any possible bullying hotspots that are located around the school. These are areas where teachers and staff do not have a clear field of vision or cannot see at all.

These hidden areas are a bully’s prime spaces to act out on smaller, weaker children.

Get Involved In The School Community

One of the best ways to learn about and witness bullying is to get involved with the school and other parents. This involvement provides you with more opportunities to see what is going on directly and who is initiating the bullying.

This involvement also provides the opportunity for teachers and parents to enforce the school’s rules. Bullying can be reduced if bullies are punished properly and they see there are consequences for their actions.

When You Need Help

Bullying is a tough problem to solve as more and more cultures interact with each other at school. To get some more guidance on bullying and how to deal with it, or create safe anonymous communication on your website, contact us.

Our company has experience in helping schools create safe website spaces to help children who are a victim of bullies. Our contact information is located here and on several web pages for your convenience.

Together we can help reduce the number of bullying incidents and victims.

At School Jotter, we are thrilled to mark a significant milestone this month – our 20th anniversary! For the past two decades, we have proudly embarked on a journey of collaboration and growth, working alongside many schools across the country and contributing to their success.

Two Decades of Transforming Education

Our journey has been one of continuous learning, innovation, and partnership. Over the years, we have had the privilege of collaborating with thousands of schools, each with their unique stories and aspirations. As we reflect on the past 20 years, we are humbled by the impact we’ve been able to create in the educational landscape.

Elevating Schools’ Reputations Through Integrated Solutions

Central to our mission has been the development of integrated solutions that empower schools to thrive in an increasingly digital world. Our flagship offerings, the School Jotter Websites and Mobile Apps, have been instrumental in elevating schools’ reputations and transforming their communication strategies.

Seamless Synchronicity for Effective Communication

The beauty of School Jotter’s integrated platforms lies in their seamless synchronicity. The harmony between School Jotter Websites and Mobile Apps creates an ecosystem that enables schools to communicate effectively with their community and parents. Regardless of geographical boundaries or device disparities, these platforms ensure that crucial information, timely updates, and engagement opportunities are accessible to all stakeholders.

Fostering Connection and Involvement

In a world where effective communication is the cornerstone of success, our integrated solutions play a vital role in fostering connection and involvement. By providing a user-friendly interface for schools to share essential updates, accomplishments, and insights, we help build bridges between schools and their communities.

Looking Ahead: A Stronger Future Together

As we celebrate our 20th anniversary, we are filled with gratitude for the incredible journey we’ve had so far. The impact of the School Jotter Websites and Mobile Apps synchronisation cannot be understated – it has revolutionised how schools communicate and engage. Our commitment to supporting schools in their growth journey remains unwavering.

Let’s Connect and Explore Together

We invite you to be a part of our journey as we move forward. If you’re interested in enhancing your school’s communication strategies or exploring how our integrated solutions can benefit your institution, we would be delighted to connect. Reach out to our dedicated team at info@schooljotter.com. With two decades of experience behind us, we are well-equipped to assist you effectively. Let’s schedule a conversation and delve deeper into your unique needs.

As we celebrate 20 years of collaboration and growth, we look forward to continuing our mission of empowering schools and fostering stronger communities. Thank you for being a part of our journey!

The pandemic has disrupted everything in day-to-day life, schooling is no exception. With having to deal with so much at the moment when it comes to matters in and outside school, maintaining communication with parents can potentially take a backseat.

Effective communication with parents is especially important during these uncertain times and should not be neglected. It helps keep parents in the loop and their anxieties at bay. It lets them know the school cares just as much about their child’s well-being. 

Most importantly, when parents are well-informed of the happenings of the school, they can rest assured that the school is well-equipped to help the students adapt to the new post-pandemic lifestyle. In fact, they would be willing to contribute to it as well.

What are the options of communication channels? 

Thanks to the boom in technological resources, especially after the pandemic, there are several communication channels available. You have texts, emails, letters, and circulars for formal communication. The school website acts as a notice board of sorts as well. 

Then there’s the informal method of group chat and phone calls for urgent messages. Lastly, there are software and apps that act as an exclusive internal system solely focussed on information sharing.

Pick a few, not all

You can pick whichever option you like but don’t pick all. It’s simply a waste of your energy and redundant for the parent. They may even miss an important message or two thinking they are repeated messages if they keep receiving the same message on every channel. 

The ideal way to go about this would be to pick two or three channels at most. If the parent misses the message on one channel, they will receive it on the other. Make sure they are not similar channels as that would diminish the effectiveness.

Say, if they miss the message on the app, there is a chance they may also miss it on text as both are mostly viewed on mobile phones. Thus, the second channel of communication should be something like email or letters. Letters are received personally, and emails can be viewed on desktops and tablets as well.

Make sure the message is received 

Effective communication is a two-way street. You should strive to be available for the parents at all times. They should be able to reach out to you, clear any doubts they may have, and ask questions. This can be tricky given everyone’s busy schedules, but it is essential to make sure they are on the same page as you. 

Make sure they have understood a message, not just received it. Perhaps they can respond with something like ‘understood’ upon receiving any update. It automatically opens up the way for them to ask questions if they have any. 

Additionally, opt for shorter messages delivered more frequently instead of longer occasional ones. It’s easier to pay attention and respond to shorter messages and frequent communication creates a better sense of being in the loop.

Encourage input from parents

46% of parents say that they wish to support their child’s education better. They truly are interested in being active partners in their children’s education should they get the proper ways to do so.

To make them feel invited, begin by personalising your messages to them. Establish a positive and inviting tone with your messages. Invite their input but don’t force them into it.

Ask them about their child’s strengths and weaknesses. Ask them what kind of a support system they think their child needs, and how you can provide it to the child. 

Final words

Schools have come a long way in improving communication with parents, aided well by technological advancements. The next challenge lies in involving parents as equal partners in their children’s education. 

Providing effective communication to the parents makes them feel like a part of a team with educators. Parents are willing to do their part. The focus should be on building relationships between educators and parents and personalising the communication. 

According to research by Clare Campbell (2011), hard to reach parents are defined as those who:
“— have very low levels of engagement with school
— do not attend school meetings nor respond to communications
— exhibit high levels of inertia in overcoming perceived barriers to participation.”
Having greater parental / carer involvement isn’t just about helping at the bake sale; pupils whose parents actively engage with school attain more, so it’s vital to make that connection. Reluctant parents with low self-esteem cite their own negative school experiences for lack of engagement, so what can be done to encourage them to join in?

• Parent Profile

For reluctant parents and carers, it’s particularly important to find out what makes them tick. Do they have any outside interests? You might find they have a skill that the school could use, like speaking a second language or a talent for arts and crafts. Taking the ‘glass half-full’ approach and focussing on the parents’ assets will raise their self-esteem and build positive relationships. By getting to know the hard to reach parent, the school is saying, “You matter as much as your child.”

• Electronic Brochure

That’s essentially what a school website is but has the potential to be so much more. It’s important to have a site that reflects the school’s ethos and brand. Apart from essential information such as staff bios and Ofsted reports, your website should be the communications hub of your school. The calendar and newsletter should be continuously updated. Useful research data can be obtained through regular online surveys. Hard to reach parents would benefit from being able to securely access a portfolio of their child’s work.

• Connect

It’s vitally important to keep parents up to speed with what’s happening in school and with their children at all times. Poor communication, whether justified or not, is a common complaint from parents. Letters sent home in the school bag often go unread – assuming they’ve reached their destination in the first place. Chatting at the ‘school gate’ is beneficial but can be hit and miss. A more effective solution to sketchy communication is a school mobile app for parents. These apps allow parents to access the latest school news and important dates, as well as receive instant alerts such as an activity being cancelled. This saves time and improves relationships by keeping parents fully aware.

• Support Workshops

Supporting pupils with their learning at home is paramount, although some hard to reach parents feel ill-equipped, especially if their child has behaviour issues. Offering drop-in workshops during and after school is a way to bridge the gap, particularly if parents know their involvement can really make a difference. Workshops could cover basic numeracy and literacy support guidance.

• Storytime

It’s a sad fact that fewer children are being read to in the home. Shared stories help develop reasoning, imagination and communication skills, as well as an interest in reading and writing. Those pupils who would rather play computer games or watch TV need particular attention, as this is often a smokescreen for a feeling of inadequacy with reading. One way to encourage reading at home is to have a ‘Story Time with Parents’ initiative in school. Some children may never have heard their parent read a story, which can have a profound effect.

• Promote School Spirit

To encourage school spirit from the outset, set up a ‘boast board’, where teachers, governors, parents and pupils can post about what excites them about the coming school year. Regular blogging or podcasts can engage hard to reach parents by introducing topics they relate to. Posts don’t have to focus purely on what’s happening in school. It might be a discussion on different behaviour management techniques or it could be a recipe for paper mâché. Make it readable and keep it fairly light. School Facebook and Twitter accounts can be used to share your blog, raising the school’s profile. Social media is useful for school trips too, so parents can share in the experience and keep track of what’s going on.

• Outreach

Although this might be seen as a last resort, there are occasions when paying a home visit is necessary. This type of approach might be met with hostility from some parents, however if handled correctly, it can pay dividends. Keep it relaxed and friendly; ask for a hot drink if one isn’t offered, as it’s amazing how bonding can begin over a cuppa. Don’t be judgemental – the parent may already be thinking they’re in trouble. Take an interest and keep it chatty, eventually focussing on the child(ren). Hopefully the parent(s) will appreciate you took the time to visit.

• Speak Their Language

With an increasing number of immigrant parents with little or no English, it can be a nightmare getting them involved with school. Add to that any cultural differences that may preclude certain activities and hit a brick wall. The ideal solution is to ask for help from community leaders or other parents who understand the situation. These helpers should be able to start building a relationship for the school and encourage some form of involvement, however small.

• Ditch the Cattle Market Parents’ Evening

For hard to reach parents, parents’ evening is a dreaded event. They may feel unable to speak to the class teacher on their level, causing deep embarrassment. Having to mix with lots of other parents could make them uncomfortable, particularly if the school intake has a wide socioeconomic range. And as is the common practise in many schools, having the pupils’ workbooks on display can have a negative effect on parents whose children have below average attainment. If possible, schedule private consultations on different days for these parents. If you remove many of the uncomfortable aspects, they are far more likely to attend.

• What Do They Want?

This may seem an obvious question but is often omitted. What does a parent want from the school and for their child? What areas are most important to them? It could be attaining excellent SATs scores or it might be developing better social skills and behaviour. You might find asking this question opens up a continuing, positive dialogue with hard to reach parents, simply because no one else has ever bothered to ask them.

With a new school term on the horizon and during the first couple of weeks, many schools will be taking a close look at their website with a view to welcoming new students and their families, and making sure important information is relevant and up to date.
Not only is your website an important tool for communication with your community, school websites are now under scrutiny from Ofsted and the DfE, with certain information required to be kept visible and up to date to ensure compliance with The School Information Regulations.
There are also a few simple ways to ensure your website is easy for you or your staff to maintain, and engaging for the parents and careers of your pupils.

Before getting back into your day-to-day school routine, don’t forget to review your school’s website to make sure that the content is still up to date, and check if you could make an simple changes to improve the site’s usability. Here are a few school website tips for planning and compliance, with suggested tasks to perform and items to check before the new term is in full swing.

Update your calendar

Two key purposes of your school’s website are marketing and communication. Your site allows you to quickly get information to parents, students, staff and the local community , keeping it visible for as long as is relevant. Ideally, your site’s event calendar should be updated before the school term starts. Add all holidays, sports events, plays etc. for which the date is already set. Categorise the events based on the audience they are for so you can share different calendars via email or on separate website pages.

Make sure your site is in compliance with DfE requirements

Last year, the DfE published a detailed, updated list of requirements with all the information a school should publish on its website. There are reports suggesting that OFSTED is doing unannounced inspections at schools that fail to provide the correct information on their websites, so if you’re not sure you’re in compliance, now is the time for a thorough review. Let’s have a look at the most important points on the list.

Contact information

Your site needs to display the name, address and phone number of your school, as well as the contact information of the staff member in charge of dealing with enquiries.

Admission Arrangements

You must either publish your full admission arrangements per age group or publish information about where your admission arrangements can be found.

Ofsted Reports

Your last Ofsted report should be available on your site or you must provide a link to where this report can be found.

Exam Results

You need to publish Information regarding the KS2 and KS4 results of your pupils.

Pupil Premium

Your website must have information about how pupil premium funding is spent at your school and how it has affected the attainment of pupils who attract the funding.

Special educational needs report

If you are a maintained school, a report on your policy for SEN pupils with must be published on your website.

Additional requirements

• Your website must have information about charging and remissions policies.
• You should publish a declaration of your ethos and values on your website.
• Your website should have detailed information about your behaviour policy.
• You need to publish complete information regarding the content of your school’s curriculum.
• A link to the DfE performance tables web page must be published on your site.
• If requested by a parent, a paper copy containing all the information that is published on your site must be provided free of charge.

Getting started with this can be a daunting task, but an important one nonetheless.
Download this checklist and go through your site one section at a time.

Refresh your content

Don’t let outdated content sit on your website. Having old, irrelevant content on your site will not prospective families. We’re not saying you need to update your school website five times per week, but regular content updates, especially before the new school year and each new term starts, are a good idea.
Go over the content on your site and update any outdated information. Check your staff directory, any files or sites that you link to, add new social media accounts or remove ones that are not used anymore, add new photos, post some interesting news stories, etc. You could also add a social media feed to your homepage so people can see what’s going on in the community.

Create an editorial plan and content schedule

Maintaining your website’s content on your own is a lot of work, which is why it’s great to have some help from teachers and support staff. However, if everyone who’s writing on the site uses a different voice and way of structuring content, things can start looking a bit messy.
It is a good idea to define an editorial plan that describes how content should be written and how other website administrators should go about posting new content (for example, you may want to have them send any updates to you for approval). Also, to ensure that your content is updated in a timely manner, you should create a content schedule describing when certain sections of your website need to be updated or new content should be added.

Consider a design update

If your website design is more than a few years old, you may want to consider having the design updated. Even a few small design changes can already make your site look a lot more modern. If your site is more than 5 years old, you should probably consider a redesign / refresh.

Make sure your website is mobile-friendly

One design update you should make a priority is making your site mobile-friendly (if you haven’t done so yet). More and more people are using mobile devices to browse the web. If your website is difficult to navigate on such devices, many visitors will just close it. Google has also started placing more importance on the mobile-friendliness of websites. Websites that don’t adapt to screen size may get a lower ranking in search engine results because of this. To find out if your website is mobile-friendly, you can use Google’s own Mobile-Friendly Test. If you fail this test, you should talk to your website developer.

Create or update your FAQs

If you often get emails or phone calls from parents or staff members with common questions, you may want to add answers to some of these to your  frequently asked questions (FAQ) section or create one if you don’t have one yet. Some questions that are likely to pop up often include:

• When are the school holidays / inset days?
• What are the school uniform policies?
• What are the admissions arrangements?

Try to answer all common questions as thoroughly as possible on your site. It may take a bit of time to collect and present this information, but it could save you a lot of time in the long term.
It doesn’t need to be called an FAQ page – as long as you have clear navigation for different types of website visitors and needs, taking them to relevant pages where you answer those questions.

Your school’s website is one of the most important tools in your marketing and communication toolkit. If you don’t update regularly though to ensure freshness and regulatory compliance, it can turn into an anti-marketing tool that does more harm than good. The start of the new school term is a fresh start in many ways, so it could be useful to make a habit of going through a checklist like the one above and performing any necessary updates.

Can we help you?

At Webanywhere, we work hard to make school websites engaging for your community and easy to use for your staff. Why not learn about our school website design and content management platform – School Jotter – or contact us for an informal discussion about your website requirements?

Being a headteacher or part of the Senior Leadership Team can be tough of course – leading a school involves trying to meet the expectations of parents, teachers and support staff, governors, Ofsted, and even the local community.

To stay up to date with education news and best practice, and to remember that there are many others in a similar position, it can be helpful to get information and advice from peers and those who understand your role.
You’ll be aware of many great resource websites for headteachers and SLTs, but we thought it would be useful to gather some of the best into one place:

Headteacher Update and SEC ED

Headteacher Update is the only magazine that is produced just for primary school headteachers in the UK.
The magazine contains articles on leadership problems, best practices, case studies and other information and resources for headteachers. The offline publication is published every two months and is distributed free of charge to all UK headteachers. The website provides more articles on best practices, useful resources and news.
Headteacher Update’s sister publication, SEC ED, offers similar information for secondary education heads, SLTs and teachers. It has a wide range of sections organised by theme and subject.
Check out https://www.headteacher-update.com and https://www.sec-ed.co.uk/.

SSATUK

SSAT is a membership site for schools worldwide, offering guidance to all members of school staff. It has separate membership options for primary schools, secondary schools and special schools.
Membership gives access to resources on topics such as: practical advice for achieving compliance with Ofsted requirements, creating a long-term vision, encouraging student leadership, tips on how to implement innovative practices based on the latest educational research and how to better collaborate with other schools.
The organisation also organises training courses and events on CPD and other important topics.
A 1-year primary school membership currently costs £275.00 + VAT and the secondary network membership is £1015.00 + VAT (Correct in July 2015).
For more information, go to: https://www.ssatuk.co.uk/.

NAHT

NAHT is a trade union for professionals who hold leadership positions in primary, special and secondary schools, independent schools, sixth form and FE colleges, and other educational institutions.
Their website contains advice on topics such as Ofsted inspections, public engagement, performance tables, etc. They also organise training courses and events, and provide bespoke training for schools.
To get access to these resources you need to apply for a membership.
Find out more at https://www.naht.org.uk/.

School Food Plan

School Food Plan was created to help head teachers, senior leadership teams, and other members of school staff improve the quality of food served at school and help pupils enjoy food that is tasty, but also good for them. The website provides a ton of information about the impact of serving better food to students.
They also provide a complete checklist for headteachers with tips to help ensure that good, affordable food is served in an attractive environment, and that lunch is a time during which all children (including the ones eating their own packed lunch) can socialise and engage in fun activities afterwards.
The information on the website has the support of the Secretary of State for Education.

It is called sharenting!!

That is a big word for those parents who innocently share too much information about and images of their children. Even the posting of a sonogram to your social media account can provide too much information to strangers who should not have that data.

The result is what many schools have been warning parents about- the danger of cyber bullying. Too much sharing can lead to a myriad of abuse from their fellow classmates as well as other children who gather on those websites designed for students to hang out.

According to the schools, this oversharing can put your child or children at risk of harm through mugging, theft and other bullying options.

What Are The Dangers Of Sharing Pictures Or Videos Of Your Children On Social Media?

The biggest danger will be exposing your children to predators. Even when you have strict privacy settings on your social media account, those privacy settings do not stop close friends from sharing your information on their not-so-strict social media accounts.

That sharing can lead to many dangers for your children. Plus, even strict privacy settings can be hacked by expert hackers who will use the information you post for nefarious schemes.

It is possible that oversharing can lead to identity fraud later on in your child’s life. Most likely, the exposure of your children to the public can lead to cyber bullying that brings devastating results.

What Is Cyber-Bullying?

Cyber bullying is more digital than physical. While it leads to physical results, cyber bullying takes place solely online using a phone, laptop, tablet or PC. It is where one or a group of individuals share false information about the targeted child.

This activity is done just about anywhere information can be shared online. Gaming rooms, texts, apps, social media outlets and more. Plus, the content is designed to harm another individual through negative, harmful, false, or mean content.

Even e-mails are not excluded from being a format used to cyber bully someone else. That negative content is not just written but can be done through altered or unflattering or embarrassing photos and videos.

Cyberbullying takes place in almost all online activities with just about any type of data possible.

How To Deal With Cyber-Bullying?

One of the most important steps you can take is to check your local laws. There may be some anti-cyberbullying laws that will guide the school in what action they can legally take.

Also, the school can develop its own policies directing teachers and the administration on how to respond to cyberbullying. These policies can lay out the discipline to be used or if expulsion is appropriate to stop students from being cyberbullies.

Also, schools can create a safe atmosphere that allows bullied students privacy to report cyberbullying. Encourage students to find someone they trust to share what is going on. Those trusted individuals can be parents, a teacher, school counsellor, and even a privacy contact page on your school web design.

One of the drawbacks to fighting cyberbullying is that only the targeted student and those the messages are meant for know it is taking place. Most often parents and school officials and teachers have no idea what is going on till a child becomes brave enough to talk about it.

How To Protect Your Child From Being Cyber-Bullied?

There are several steps you can take to help protect your child from being cyberbullied. Here are a few suggestions to get you on the right path:

– educate your children to identify cyberbullying and then teach them not to respond in kind. Instead, teach your children to be respectful to others whether in person or online

– teach your children not to respond to cyberbullies but keep the information saved as evidence it is taking place. Also, instruct your children to block cyberbullies

– set boundaries- this is where you create rules for internet and phone use as well as what internet sites they can go to and which ones are off limits.

– help your child create privacy and location settings and instruct them that participating in cyber bullying is wrong and unacceptable if they participate in it

– monitor your child’s online activities and know how to identify cyberbullying

– document everything- take screenshots, record dates, times and the nature of the cyber bullying and other documentation so you have evidence if needed.

When you need guidance in this delicate issue, contact our company. One of our priorities is protecting children from cyberbullying.