June 2020.

The Education for a Connected World framework has been updated and describes the Digital knowledge and skills that children and young people should have the opportunity to develop at different ages and stages of their lives. It highlights what a child should know in terms of current online technology, its influence on behaviour and development, and what skills they need to be able to navigate it.

Access the framework here

ProjectEVOLVE resources each of the 330 statements from UK Council for Internet Safety's (UKCIS) framework “Education for a Connected World” with perspectives; research; activities; outcomes; supporting resources and professional development materials. 

Access Project Evolve here

Also, the Education for a Connected World is based on a framework originally created by Common Sense Media and there is a UK version created by Islington Schools which includes UK resources and teaching materials. Both frameworks and resources are free to use.

You can access this document here

A lifetime online

The first “social media babies” are turning 13! Their childhoods have been shared online by their families- and they’re not always happy about it. As the babies born since the advent of Facebook become old enough to have their own accounts, should we rethink how much we share about our children?

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The UK's Revenge Porn Helpline has seen huge year-on-year increase in reported incidents since it was launched in 2015.

The hotline received just over 500 reports in 2015 and more than 2000 in 2017.

Once someone has a photo or video of you, it's very hard to control what happens to it.

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Schools should play a bigger role in preparing children for social media's emotional demands as they move from primary to secondary school, England's children's commissioner says.

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Don't wrap your device yet!

First things first - set it up. Don't wait until Christmas day. If you have games consoles, do yourself a favour and do the updates first. Plug it in and set them it on the home wifi before Christmas day. Often consoles do a huge update when first turned on and user accounts need to be created. On Christmas day you wont have time as the beers, wine will be ready to drink and the turkey will need attention.

When you set up any devices you will want to manage content (the stuff that you don't want the kids to see), spending, screen time and also see some degree of reporting of their activity.

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The use of live streaming platforms by online sex offenders is increasing and there is an urgent need to educate children about the risks associated with this new threat, warn child protection experts.

During a recent week of intensification to tackle child sexual exploitation and abuse, police and NCA operations across the UK safeguarded 245 children and arrested 192 people, 18 of whom were in a position of trust. 30% of those cases involved some of the highest harm offences including live streaming, blackmail and grooming.

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