Wealden Times | WT225 | Jan & Feb 2021| Education supplement inside

Education Supplement sponsored by
We need to talk
about tech
In a world filled with more online socialisation than ever, how do parents and
teachers keep up? We found out with the help of Battle Abbey School
At Battle Abbey School we
very much see parents as
partners in a collaborative
effort to keep children safe online.
Smart phone technology and the
multitude of apps that are available
for children to communicate on has
inevitably made it harder to define the
boundary between our responsibility
as a school and the responsibility of
parents. As such, education on proper
conduct online has become one of the
cornerstones of our pastoral education.
Historically, this focused on Key
Stage 4 pupils, or pupils entering their
GCSE years, but technology and apps
are increasingly being picked up and
used by younger pupils. Now most
of our efforts are focused on giving
pupils a solid grounding in Key Stage
3, from Year 7 and up, though our
visiting speaker schedule is open to,
and attracts, parents from our Prep
School and Key Stage 2 as well.
The primary way we address these
issues is through dedicated units that
form part of the Battle Abbey School
PSHE programme. This is decided
annually but tends to be reviewed
termly as it needs to adjust to which
apps are trending with our pupil base.
Luckily the school is small enough
to be able to move very quickly
should one of these trends create a
problem or be of particular concern
to teachers and parents. Tik Tok
replaced Snapchat for a while as one
of our main concerns but collaborative
gaming has also been a more recent
focus and the simple WhatsApp
group always has the potential to
create problems in peer groups.
“we pride ourselves on
giving each pupil a
strong moral compass”
Keeping children safe in all these
arenas is obviously critical and we do
our best to educate staff, parents and
pupils alike. Our pre-covid visiting
speaker programme was not just aimed
at pupils and we often had visiting
speakers talk to pupils in the afternoon
and stay on for an early evening talk
to parents. 2019 saw Dr Aric Sigman
visit the Abbey to talk about the
problem of Screen Dependency, and
Bill Woodside spoke to parents and
staff about keeping pupils safe in the
digital world. In line with our legal
duties on PREVENT we have also had
guest speakers in to talk to families
about the signs to look out for to stop
children being radicalised online.
It can be particularly tricky to set the
line between what online behaviour
we are arbiters of, and what should
be managed by parents. Whilst there
is a clear responsibility if something
happens on school property, or using
a school system, things are not always
so clear cut. A school year or social
group may have a WhatsApp group
or similar setup. If offensive content is
posted on these outside school hours
and away from school property, who
has the responsibility for discipline?
It is challenges like this that mean we
have to work very closely with parents
whilst keeping tabs on both social
trends and government advice. Not
an easy job, but in a school where
every pupil is known and we pride
ourselves on giving each pupil a strong
moral compass on these matters, we
find any transgressions tend to be few
and far between, and of a relatively
minor nature when they do occur.
battleabbeyschool.com
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