You seem to be a very level-headed and reasonable parent – as you know I have younger children, so I really value such experiences from others.

Regarding your point about schools being involved in the discussion of online safety, I totally agree. You may have seen my recent FB post about a conversation I had with Thomas recently. “What did you do at play time at school today?”. “We sat on the field and played Facebook!”. “How on earth do you play Facebook, Thomas?”. “Well we sit and pretend to watch videos and then a Ria kissed Finlay on the lips”. As Gavin rightly pointed out, this is more interesting that REAL Facebook.

After recounting the story with his teacher, with much laughter from both of us, she told me that she can tell me exactly where this will have come from. They had a recent “special visitor” (someone who comes and gives a talk in assembly) who discussed online safety with the children and being careful of talking to strangers on the internet. Following this, Thomas also came to us with his iPod and said there was a stranger messaging him. Turned out to be my dad on a different email address, but we applauded his diligence and explained he had done just the right thing in telling us.

It’s so much easier as parents if we are partners with our teachers. Online safety is something that is essential is given a two-pronged approach.

I’m going to pass these tools in your post on to my colleague who teach young learners at college.

All the best, and thanks again

Emma