AGE LIMITS ON APPS & GAMES

As a school, we do all we can to keep children safe whilst using the internet and through our curriculum give them knowledge and skills to help keep themselves safe and build digital resilience. We cannot do it without your support at home too, we really appreciate you working with us and reinforcing these messages and skills at home.

We all want the best for children and it is really important that children are protected from unsuitable online content and have a healthy balance between screen time and other activities. The digital world became a huge part of our lives during the lockdowns and it is really important to acknowledge how many positives there are to our digital lives, but it is also important to have a balance. 

As well as parental controls and internet filters it is so important that you monitor how much time your child spends on digital devices. It is a good idea to set up a timetable/rota to clearly identify where your child is allowed screen time.  Where possible, ensure that your child remains in the room with you at all times, during their allocated screen time. Please make sure that you are aware of what your child is accessing whilst online and have relevant parental controls or protection in place on PCs, laptops, phones and tablets and also on streaming services on TV and games consoles.

We strongly recommend that you adhere to the age restrictions on Social Media apps and sites, Here are some of the popular ones for quick reference:  

There are also other elements of social media use which may not be appropriate for young users. 

It is always better to wait until the required age to join any social media service. These rules around age relate to privacy, but also are relevant to safety. Some services offer additional protection for users who are registered as under 18, and by supplying a fake age young people can potentially lose some of this protection. Young people also risk being exposed to content which is intended for older users when they use sites that are not designed for people their age.

Games have an age limit too. These games may seem harmless enough but many of them have unsuitable content, including violence, swearing and drugs and alcohol.  Seeing and hearing such inappropriate content could well affect your child's behaviour and wellbeing. Children have also been known to become addicted to such content.

For any Game or App where contact is made with others please remember that your child can be exposed to unsavoury messages and content - even from other children and privacy settings are essential, making sure your child is not sharing more information than they intend to.