On 6^th March, children from across the Trust joined in with our online Pupil Parliament day. Our theme for this day was online safety and the children were engaged in debate, collaborative working and positive participation throughout the day. The topics for debate were as follows:

“Cyberbullying isn’t as harmful as face to face bullying.”

“Playing games online is harmless fun and there shouldn’t be a limit to how long you can spend gaming.”

I led a discussion, collecting the views of others and unsurprisingly the children had lots to say on these topics. They were able to argue pros and cons of limiting game time and showed a real maturity when discussing cyberbullying.

Children demonstrated a good understanding of cyberbullying and were able to justify why they thought it was just as harmful, and sometimes more harmful that face to face bullying. They agreed that often children were braver to be meaner online where they can remain anonymous. They also felt that it was worse to hear unkind things being said when they didn’t know who they were coming from. The majority agreed that it was absolutely right for parents to put in restrictions and maintain some control over gaming access.

When discussing gaming, there many were many conflicting opinions but I was pleased to hear that the majority of people (by the end of the discussion), felt that game time should be limited. The children decided that getting outside and having real life adventures was really important to maintain positive mental health. They really enjoyed being able to communicate with their friends through gaming platforms - especially where they live further away but they were able to discuss the positives and negatives of too much time online.

Children were able to share their understanding of online safety, social media platforms, keeping safe online and their understanding and experiences of cyber bullying.

The children were then given the task of sharing the message of how to keep safe online with their wider schools. Many made online safety posters and created PowerPoints to share with their peers.

As part of my wider role in the Trust I am privileged to be able to go to schools to establish the children’s understanding of safeguarding and positive mental health. I meet with the children to discuss their understanding of RSHE and safeguarding. We talk about emotional/ psychological safety and physical safety in school and about the pupil surveys and whether they have their voices heard. 

The children across all of our Trust schools state that they feel happy and safe in school. They speak highly of their school staff and about the range of activities that they have to do. They confidently talked about their RSHE learning and the topics covered within this subject. The children have a good understanding of how to keep themselves safe and where to get help if it is needed.

An area where the children were less confident, was in talking about the types of abuse they may encounter. In schools where the children were more confident, they had completed work with the NSPCC using their Speak Out, Stay safe resources. As a result of this, we have suggested that this work is carried out across the Trust schools as part of the RSHE programme of study.

Speak out Stay safe programme | NSPCC Learning

The children feel that their ideas are listened to and they talk enthusiastically about roles and responsibilities in school including monitors, Pupil Parliament leads and school ambassadors.

It was great to hear the children talking so positively about their schools and having their voices heard and taking responsibility to affect change in their schools.

Written by: Steph Hawes, Academy Head, Greenfields Partnership