Our Student Wellbeing Ambassadors
A small reminder about the work that our Year 13 Wellbeing Ambassadors do in school. Our ambassadors are there to listen non-judgementally and support young people with whatever their concerns are – big or small. Please do remind your child that this is something that they can access should they feel they need any help whatsoever, they are available in the Wellbeing Hub every Wednesday and Friday lunchtime – simply pop and along and catch up with them. The wellbeing ambassadors can also be contacted via email on wellbeingambassadors@kshs.uk. This is an email address that is monitored during the working week.
Safer Internet Day (7 Feb 2023)
Did you know that according to new research from Safer Internet Day that 50% of children aged 3-17 years old used TikTok in 2022 and that 59% of children aged between 8-17 said they had seen something ‘worrying or nasty’ online. We would like to support our young people in becoming digitally responsible and with your help we can work towards a safer online world for our students.
This newsletter will focus on TIKTOK, the rise in use of TIKTOK in our teen population has been significant.
Do you know enough about TikTok as a parent/carer?
What is TikTok?
TikTok is a free social media platform that lets you create, share, and watch short clips. The app is popular for viral dances and celebrity cameos and is a creative and fun platform for teens to enjoy.
Currently, the app is available in 75 languages with over 1 billion active users (Jan 2021). Like the app Musical.ly before it, it is most popular with under-16s. A 2022 Ofcom report found that TikTok is the most popular social media platform for posting content. Thirteen is the minimum age according to TikTok’s terms and conditions. This means that all Year 7 and many Year 8 students should not have a TikTok account.
What do parents say about the app?
Parents have expressed concerns about the inappropriate language of some of the videos posted which may make this less suitable for younger children. There has been a rise in contact from strangers; predators seeking to connect with children is another privacy and security risk on TikTok. Please do make sure you have set up privacy and security settings to limit this contact.
What should parents be concerned about?
When you download the app, users can see all the content without creating an account although they are not able to post, like or share anything until they’ve set up an account on the app.
By default, all accounts are public so anyone on the app can see what your child shares. However, only approved followers can send them messages.
Users can like or react to a video, follow an account, or send messages to each other, so there is the risk that strangers will be able to directly contact children on the app.
Children may be tempted to take risks to get more of a following or likes on a video so it’s important to talk about what they share and with who.
Need to delete your account? Go to Me>Tap …, located on the top right corner >Tap Manage account > Delete account. Follow the instructions in the app to delete your account.
Have a look at our handy guide below.
