Hi <<First Name>>,

Welcome to our May newsletter.

Over the past month, we've offered parents the chance to educate themselves about internet safety with practical help both offline and online. We held digital drop-in sessions with Dixons Carphone giving parents the chance to get hands-on, practical advice while providing specialised advice on cyberbullying and mental health through our online hub 'What The Experts Say'.

We backed Heads Together's #Oktosay campaign, by encouraging children to discuss their mental health, and supported NSPCC's Flaw In The Law campaign, which marked another milestone in keeping children safe online. 
 

Digital Drop-In Sessions

Internet Matters joined forces once again with Dixons Carphone to host free digital drop-ins for parents at 50 Curry’s PC World and Carphone Warehouse stores throughout the country.  

From April 24th to 28th parents and guardians were invited to attend 30 minute sessions to help them understand the risks their children face online and how to encourage them to be more involved in their digital lives.

The in-store KnowHow teams were on hand to help visitors set up parental controls, privacy settings and talk to them about the most pressing issues in children’s online safety.

Parents were able to find their nearest session through the Internet Matters website and bring in their own devices to get practical help from the staff in store.

Parents Seek Experts Advice on Effects of Cyberbullying

Parents chose bullying and the effect it has on children’s mental health as the topic for this month’s ‘What The Experts Say’ Q&A article.

A total of 447 parents voted with nearly half of them (48%) seeking for advice on bullying and mental health as opposed to guidance on online extremism (16%) or the dark web (36%).

Following this vote, we put the topic to experts who provided great advice to support parents on this issue. See the latest Q & A article ’How can cyberbullying effect my child’s mental health’.

Internet Matters Welcomes New Law

In October 2014, the NSPCC launched its Flaw in the Law campaign to make it illegal for an adult to send a child a sexual message.

Over 50,000 people signed the NSPCC’s petition and in 2014, David Cameron announced it would become a law.

But as it wasn't given a start date - two years later, police in England and Wales were still unable to charge people with the offence.

Justice Secretary Liz Truss finally announced that as of April 3rd 2017, Police could now charge those who engage in inappropriate sexual messaging to children in England and Wales by virtue of the Serious Crime Act 2015 section 67 which serves to insert a new section 15A into the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

Internet Matters welcomed the new law as it marks another move to help keep children safe in the digital world.

Internet Matters Supports Heads Together #Oktosay Campaign

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry spearheaded the Heads Together Campaign to end the stigma about mental health.

After being named the 2016 Virgin Money London Marathon Charity of the Year, the campaign was well received across the country - as Prince Harry opened up about his own experiences with mental health.

Internet Matters recognises for parents keeping kids healthy is a top priority and in support of Heads Together’s #OKtosay campaign - we showcased the best free apps to help improve children’s general wellbeing.

UK Hosts 0.1% of Child Abuse Websites

The Internet Watch Foundation released a report last month revealing that Europe is now hosting 60% of websites containing child abuse content.

But the IWF, aims to make the web a safer place by identifying incidents of child abuse, and found that in contrast only 0.1% were being hosted in the UK due to the "zero tolerance” approach.

The report found that "self-produced" content - created using webcams - was a worrying trend having "serious repercussions" for young people.

British Pupils Among Most Bullied In The World

British pupils are among the most bullied in the world - with almost a quarter of students claiming they are regularly victimised, according to research by The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

The UK ranked 15th in a poll of 52 nations from countries with the ‘most bullying’ to the least.

A total of 23.9% of British 15-year-olds said they were bullied at least a ‘few times a month’ as 15.1% of teenagers said their peers had made fun of them while 11.4% said their peers left them out socially.