Filtering and Monitoring: A Safeguarding Responsibility
The Department for Education updated its digital and technology standards on 16 September, making it explicit that schools and colleges have a statutory responsibility to keep children and young people safe online as well as offline.
The wording now appears in both the Filtering and Monitoring and Cyber Security core standards, reinforcing that these are safeguarding responsibilities rather than simply technical or IT issues.
For DSLs and school leaders, this is also a useful prompt to consider how regularly filtering and monitoring arrangements are being checked in practice. LGfL has produced a practical guide specifically for DSLs on carrying out those regular checks.
Links:
Department for Education – Meeting digital and technology standards in schools and colleges
LGfL – A DSL’s Guide to Regular Filtering Checks
Online Harm Groups – New CEOP Guidance
CEOP Education has published new guidance and resources around online harm groups.
These groups can use manipulation, coercion, threats and blackmail to encourage young people into harmful behaviour. Contact may begin in an apparently ordinary way through shared interests, gaming or friendship before escalating into secrecy, pressure, self-harm, sexual imagery or humiliation.
The new CEOP material is particularly useful because there are separate resources for professionals, young people aged 11–18, and parents and carers.
One important safeguarding message is that a young person may continue engaging with a harmful group, defend the people involved or resist adult help. That does not necessarily mean they are freely choosing the abuse.
Links:
CEOP – Online Harm Groups: What Professionals Need to Know
CEOP – Online Harm Groups: Resources for 11–18 Year Olds
CEOP – What Are Online Harm Groups? Information for Parents
Where Are Young People Getting Their News?
Ofcom’s latest research gives another useful reminder that children and young people are increasingly encountering news through feeds, creators and recommendation systems, rather than deliberately visiting traditional news websites.
Among UK 12–15-year-olds:
- 78% access news through social media or video-sharing platforms
- 42% use TikTok for news
- 38% use YouTube for news
This has an important implication for media literacy. It is no longer enough to teach children simply to check whether a source can be trusted. They also need to understand why a particular piece of content has appeared in their feed, who created it and what may have influenced the platform to recommend it.
Link:
Ofcom – News Consumption in the UK 2026
New UNICEF Research on Technology-Facilitated Sexual Abuse
A major new UNICEF report, Through Children’s Eyes, examines technology-facilitated child sexual exploitation and abuse across 21 countries.
The research draws on nationally representative surveys of around 21,000 internet-using children aged 12–17, alongside interviews with young people who experienced abuse.
Some of the headline findings include:
- Around 20 million 12–17-year-olds — approximately 1 in 5 of the internet-using children in the countries studied — experienced technology-facilitated sexual exploitation or abuse in a single year
- More than 4 in 10 disclosed the experience to nobody
- Less than 1% reported the abuse to police, a social worker or a helpline
- Much of the abuse occurred on mainstream platforms children already use in everyday life
The research is international rather than UK-specific, but the findings reinforce the importance of trusted relationships, early disclosure and avoiding assumptions that abuse only happens on obscure or specialist platforms.
Link:
UNICEF – Through Children’s Eyes: How Digital Technologies Enable Child Sexual Abuse
Threads Introduces Parental Supervision
Meta has begun rolling out parental supervision for Threads globally.
When supervision is set up through Meta’s Family Center, parents can:
- see how much time their teenager spends on Threads
- set daily time limits
- adjust sleep mode
- manage privacy settings
The new controls build on the protections already included within Meta’s Teen Accounts.
Link:
Meta – Parental Supervision on Threads
For Parents and Carers – Online Harm Groups
CEOP Education has produced new guidance to help parents understand online harm groups and how children can become drawn into them.
These groups may initially appear friendly or supportive before introducing secrecy, pressure, harmful challenges, threats or blackmail. The guidance explains some of the warning signs parents can look for and, importantly, how to respond calmly if they are worried about their child.
Link:
CEOP – What Are Online Harm Groups?
For Parents and Carers – Staying Safe While Gaming
Online games can be a great way for children to play and socialise, but many games now include messaging, voice chat, purchases and interaction with people they do not know offline.
Ofcom’s Parents Power Up guidance gives families a simple framework built around Check, Chat and Change — checking account details and settings, talking about who children play with and changing safety or parental controls where needed.
Link:
Ofcom – Parents Power Up: Helping Your Child Stay Safe While Gaming Online
