Daily Safeguarding Update - Safer Schools NI

Five-year-old dies from illness linked to Strep A

A 5-year-old girl has died from an illness linked to the bacterial infection Strep A.
The Black Mountain Primary School pupil became severely ill last week and was treated at the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children.
On Friday, the Public Health Agency (PHA) issued a letter to parents of Primary 1 to Primary 3 children at the school informing them of the Strep A case and requesting that children attend a clinic to receive a preventative course of antibiotics.
Most Strep A infections are mild and easily treated with antibiotics, however some people who catch it can get very sick.
The PHA is asking parents to be vigilant.
For more on this story, please visit the BBC News website.

Facebook have announced in a blog post that it would start prompting users on Facebook Dating to verify that they’re over 18.
This will specifically occur if the platform suspects a user is underage.
Users can confirm their age by submitting a copy of their ID or by uploading a selfie video, which Facebook would share with age verification company, Yoti.
Meta have said that the new age verification systems will help stop children from accessing features meant for adults.
However, there does not appear to be any requirements for adults to verify their age on Facebook Dating.
For more on this story, please visit the Verge website.

“Gaslighting”, “upskirting” and “love bombing” are increasingly being used to describe forms of abuse.
Gaslighting- the act or practice of grossly misleading someone, was named Merriam-Webster dictionary’s word of 2022, with a 1,740% increase in searches on their site this year.
On TikTok, #gaslighting has 1.9 billion views, and #lovebombing almost 250 million.
BBC 100 Women has spoken to three women who have been spreading the word about new expressions to describe sexual assault and harassment from the UK, to South America and the Middle East.
For more on this story, please visit the BBC News website.