Social media and keeping kids safe

By Belinda Hirst | Posted: Thursday September 10, 2020

Social media can be a great thing when used correctly and with good intentions, and in a safe environment. Please remember to be kind and teach your kids about being kind when commenting or posting on social media – remember two of our values: engaging with mana, and acting with respect.

At school

As soon as students arrive at school, their phones are put into the device container for the day – no exceptions. They are then returned at 3.05 pm as they are leaving for the day.
We are in the process of fully deploying Family Zone’s filtering technology on our school wifi and on students' individual school accounts. This is critical to our efforts to protect your children online during school time and when they are using their school account. This monitoring/filtering will happen whenever your child uses/is logged in to their school account: whether your child is connected to the school’s wifi or not.

Parents

Social media advice for parents on NetSafe.
Online Safety Parent Toolkit on Netsafe.
To learn more about Family Zone, please visit their website.

WHAT ARE THE AGE RESTRICTIONS?

The minimum sign up age for Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube is 13. This is because a child’s social and emotional capability is still developing which can make it more difficult to identify and manage challenges that occur on a platform designed for adults and teens. If your child is under 13 and keen to use social media, consider their capability to manage potential online challenges before setting up a profile. It is better your child is honest with you as you can help them to stay safe online.

Please take the time to read up on the strategies you can take to keep your child safe online.