Last Updated on 14th April 2026

Welcome Back to Your March Newsletter!

Educate – Empower – Protect

2026 is moving fast, and we’re here to help you stay ahead. This month, we dive into the “Growing up in the online world” consultation and provide critical alerts on “Com Networks”. Read on to hear what other resources have been released and the latest news to make sure you and the children in your care are empowered in this digital age.

digital-proficiency-badge-safer-schools-ni

Starting with good news!

Our Digital Proficiency Course deadline has been extended to the end of the summer term so there is still plenty of time for you and your school community to complete the course and test!

Find it in your app today.

Starting with good news!

Our Digital Proficiency Course deadline has been extended to the end of the summer term so there is still plenty of time for you and your school community to complete the course and test!

Find it in your app today.

News and Alerts ℹ️

Key updates and alerts as seen on your app’s news feed.

🛡️Growing Up Online: A Guide to the UK Government Consultation

The 2026 “Growing up in the online world” consultation was a landmark UK initiative that gathered evidence to improve digital protections for children. It addressed critical issues like social media age limits, AI dependency, and addictive algorithms. Now concluded, its findings are being used to implement “safety by design” legislation and nationwide digital literacy programs.

Read Here

⚠️Understanding Com Networks: A Safeguarding Update for Families and Professionals

Read our safeguarding update on “Com Networks”, sadistic online groups where members gain status through self-harm and abuse. Following a surge in UK cases, authorities advise monitoring for extreme digital secrecy and using “supported exits” to protect vulnerable youth, prioritizing evidence preservation and professional help over simple device confiscation.

Read Here

✨Read more within your Online Safety Guidance section of the App.✨

Technical Support 👩🏼‍💻

Updates and tips from our Support Centre.

Ensure You’re Connected to Your School

To access role-specific guidance and school-wide information, please verify that you are logged into your school’s official account.

The Logo Test: The home screen of your app should display your school’s logo. If you see the Safer Schools default badge instead (like the one in the app icon), follow these steps to fix it:

Log out and restart the login process.
Select your role and enter your login details.
Search for your school in the dropdown list.
Enter your 4-digit code to unlock your school-specific content.

To access your 4-digit code, please reach out to your young person’s school.

Community News and Updates 📢

The latest in the locality

We were proud to support the CCEA Symposium at Stranmillis University for the Domestic and Sexual Abuse and Ending Violence Against Women and Girls in March. Hannah Paul, our Director of Operations, provided an inside look at how our tools and resources can help schools educate, empower and protect. Our team were delighted to speak to a few of you at our Safer Schools stall to chat about the resources available to you within your app.

A note from Hannah:

“We must listen to young people’s lived experiences of image sharing and respond with proactive safeguarding—not judgement. What goes online doesn’t have to stay there. When we remove the shame, we open the door to genuine support.”

In App Content

Resource Highlight ✨

The ready-to-use, relevant resource you need

Teacher Targeted Bullying

The digital landscape is shifting, with AI tools now being misused to target staff members online. Although this behaviour mirrors traditional bullying, AI allows these acts to be carried out with greater speed and intensity.

We are committed to supporting our educators. Our latest in-app content offers dedicated resources for staff, parents, and carers to help manage and mitigate the risks of Teacher-Targeted Bullying.

Media News 🗞️

Safeguarding and Online Safety News

🏫 Teachers warn of extreme online content influencing pupils in British schools – A major survey of over 10,000 UK teachers has highlighted the negative influence of harmful online content on pupils, as the government weighs various protective measures including a potential social media ban for those under 16.

🛡️Help your child stay safe online: UK Government Campaign – The UK government’s “Kids Online Safety” website offers parents and carers practical guidance on starting open conversations with their children about online risks, from setting up parental controls to identifying “toxic” content like misinformation and misogyny.

👻 Snapchat Safety Courses – Developed by safety experts, this interactive course uses realistic scenarios to help teens navigate online risks and master Snapchat’s safety tools. It empowers young people to handle challenges like harassment and exploitation while providing essential guidance for parents.

🛣️ Treat Online Privacy Like Road Safety – The Information Commissioner’s Office is urging parents of children aged 4 to 11 to treat online privacy as an essential life skill, comparable to teaching a child how to cross the road or understanding “stranger danger.” The regulator warns that a single click can create a permanent digital footprint that reveals a child’s location, friendships, and daily habits.

🛑 Charity urges for ‘zero tolerance’ of ‘dangerous’ AI child sexual abuse – The Internet Watch Foundation is calling for an immediate EU-wide ban on AI-generated child sexual abuse material and the tools used to create it, following a record-breaking surge in increasingly realistic and extreme criminal content.