Dean of Students | Mr Damien Cuddihy

With the likely move to online learning platforms in Term 2, young people are going to be spending more time at home and online. While there are a lot of great ways for students to use platforms to learn and stay socially connected, they will inevitably present risks that will need to be managed more closely than ever before. The eSafety commissioner has recently sent schools reminders for common online safety issues that I will share in this article. 

Here are some steps to help protect young people.

• Start the chat now. While it is not possible to be at your child’s side every second of the day, it is important to talk with them about online safety issues to help develop their critical thinking and ability to make good choices. You may feel they know more about the latest technology than you do, but you have more life experience to guide them. They will need your influence over the next few months as exposure to possible negative online interactions increases. 

• Use parental controls and safe search options. Parental controls can help block your child from accessing specific websites, apps or functions. They can also monitor your child’s use of connected devices and set time limits. However, please be aware that you cannot always rely on them — they should be used in combination with other online safety strategies. FamilyZone is a product that provides control at the network level, enabling parents to manage any device that connects to the home WiFi. 

• Check smart device settings. It is surprising how many devices can connect online these days. While they can be both entertaining and educational, they can reveal your child’s personal details and location — and allow other people to contact them without you knowing. Talk to your son about turning off location settings on their devices. 

• Look out for unwanted contact and grooming. Unwanted contact is any communication that makes your child feel uncomfortable or unsafe, even if they initially welcomed the contact. It can come from a stranger, an online ‘friend’ or even someone they actually know. At worst, it can involve ‘grooming’ — building a relationship with the child in order to sexually abuse them. Again, with the increase in time that the boys are going to be spending online in the coming months, like you, I have great concerns in this space. 

• Know the signs of cyberbullying. As always it is very important to keep an eye out for cyberbullying. It can include mean posts, comments and messages, as well as being left out of online group activities like gaming. Remember, when they are away from school, kids have less access to their usual support systems, including friends, teachers and counsellors. Watch out for signs like your child or teen appearing upset after using their mobile, tablet or computer, being unusually secretive about their online activities or becoming withdrawn.

As I walked around the campus this week, I was reminded of the critical role schools play in the wellbeing of communities. While there is a different atmosphere here at present I think the boys have responded really well to the changing environment and continue to take one step at time. 

Take care.