Daily Safeguarding News - Safer Schools NI

Quarter of parents kept children off UK Jewish schools over security fears

Support group, Partnerships for Jewish Schools (PaJes) has highlighted the level of concern felt since the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Scotland Yard reported a sharp spike in antisemitic incidents and offences in the capital.
Rabbi Meyer, the chief executive of PaJes, reported that across the UK, 25% of parents did not send their children to Jewish schools on Friday.
In some London schools this figure was much higher at 40%.
In a statement on Saturday, Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak offered support to Israel and the UK’s Jewish community.
Visit INEQE’s website for guidance on ‘Talking to your Child about War and Conflict’.
For more, please visit the Sky News website.

Following a warning from the EU, TikTok has said it “immediately” took action to counter misinformation around the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
The EU called on TikTok boss Shou Zi Chew to report on how the platform was complying with EU law on Friday.
EU commissioner Thierry Berton warned TikTok to be mindful of its popularity with young people and to protect children and young people from harmful content.
TikTok said it had removed “violative content and accounts.”
For more, please visit the BBC News website.

Australian internet safety watchdog has issued X (formerly Twitter) with a fine of £317,360 after X failed to cooperate with a probe into anti-child abuse practices.
The eSafety Commission has criticised social media platform X for their “empty talk” on the issue of child sexual exploitation (CSE).
This follows after Elon Musk posted on the platform in November saying that “removing child exploitation is priority #1”.
X’s noncompliance was deemed serious, with the Australian regulator saying the company failed to “provide any response to some questions, leaving some sections entirely blank”.
Some of these questions included the time it takes the platform to respond to reports of CSE, the measures it has in place to detect CSE in livestreams and the tools and technologies it uses to detect CSE material”.
For more, please visit the BBC News website.

Officers have revealed how a routine blackmail case turned into an investigation into child sexual abuse that spread across NI and beyond.
Detectives from the PNSI Public Protection Branch said the man, 35, posed as a teenage girl on social media to entrap his victims.
He pled guilty to more than 150 child sexual offences and the court was told that 37 victims had been identified, all of whom were boys under the age of 18.
Transcripts showed conversations which reveal him urging boys to send him images and offering concert tickers in return.
Detective Constable Rebecca Irvine has urged parents that “if you believe your child is a victim of this sort of abuse, if they are disengaging, if they are becoming emotional, if there are issues at school, it is really important to have that conversation with them”.
For more, please visit the Belfast Telegraph website.

Pupils in All Saints College in West Belfast have teamed up with Kids in Control, and released a powerful video campaign to raise awareness around underage vaping.
‘Be Smart, Don’t Start’ focuses on vaping and how the drug Spice is being reportedly used.
Both Jade Quinn, KIC Artistic Director and Mr Bell, Head of Year 8 at the school reported how proud they were of the young people for highlighting such an important issue and hope it encourages other young people to think before vaping.
For more, please visit the Belfast Live website.