Child Internet Safety Warning for pupils

Children working at home at risk of predators and perverts

Child internet safety warning for pupils issued, as more pupils work from home.‍

Watkins Ward Group Investigations take a look at this worrying child safety issue.

School children are more at risk working from home on laptops and internet connected devices, than would be the case in the classroom, child protection specialists warn.

Excess time online is leaving a large amount of younger children vulnerable and exposed to added dangers.

Reports confirm that incidents of online predators, perverts and pedophiles targeting children on the internet have seen a large increase since the national crisis lock-down started.

Children risk coming across indecent and damaging content, being lured by gangs and generally being exposed the added dangers.

Ms Konstantas, chief executive of the Safeguarding Alliance, said:  “Over the past couple of months, many children have been using the internet for the first time and suddenly it has become the new norm for many of them.  “We have to take into consideration parents who are under increased pressure and stress at this time. They have work and financial stresses and children are feeling increasingly lonely and parents are providing them with devices perhaps they wouldn’t have had access to before the coronavirus crisis.  “This is a cause for increasing concern.”

Prime-minister, Boris has made clear his willingness to wanting to re-open schools, after a report warning that children will suffer lasting damage from the COVID19 lock-down.

SAGE (The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies) said:   “A cohort of children have experienced a shock to their education, which will persist and affect their educational and work outcomes for the rest of their lives.  “The current lockdown may lead to an increase in adverse childhood experiences, for example: domestic violence, poor parental mental health, child neglect or abuse.”

The NSPCC has warned that lockdown is the highest period of risk for online child abuse it has ever seen.

Tory MP Robert Halfon, who chairs the Commons education committee, said the latest revelations highlight the urgent need to re-open schools next month as planned.

He added: “We need to think about the terrible risk lockdown poses to these children which could destroy their life chances just as we talk about the minimal risk posed by them going back to school.”