Last Updated on 17th December 2025
Welcome to our Winter Wrap-Up!
Hello and welcome back! 👋
We recognise the tremendous work and dedication you pour into your roles.
This monthly round-up provides a curated selection of resources and essential insights, empowering you to be proactive in your practice and cultivate a resilient, forward-thinking learning environment.
News and Alerts
A round up of the latest news and alerts sent directly to your Safer Schools App
The Locket App 🔒
Locket is climbing the app charts again with its unique widget that lets users instantly share photos directly to friends’ phone screens. Read our Safeguarding Guide “What is Locket” to explore its features and learn about the potential risks such as weak age verification, the absence of parental controls, and the permanence of shared images.
Anti-Bullying Week 📲
Bullying is not a normal part of childhood and should not be tolerated in any form. Here at Safer Schools, we recognise the rising risks of cyberbullying, with 3 in 10 of 8-17-year-olds reporting having experienced bullying via communication technology. Find out how Safer Schools can help your school community to foster safer online habits through this resource, “Cyberbullying, How Can Safer Schools Help?“
AI-Generated Image Exploitation 🚨
A disturbing new threat is emerging where people are exploiting readily available AI image generation tools to create sexually explicit images, often of female students, by copying photos directly from school websites and social media channels. Protect your community now. Our essential guide, “Safeguarding Students: A Guide for Schools on Preventing and Responding to AI-Generated Image Exploitation” explains how to proactively safeguard the children in your care and provides clear steps for reporting and responding to these specific AI exploitation incidents.
Don’t forget you have access to all of these resources, and many more, via your Safer Schools app. Make sure your push notifications are on so you don’t miss the release of any safeguarding advice!
Technical Support 👩🏼💻
Top tips from the Support Centre
Not Receiving Push Notifications? Check Your Settings First! 🔔
If you aren’t receiving timely push notifications from the Safer Schools App, the issue could be related to individual device settings.
For the App to deliver instant alerts, it requires permission not just from the App itself, but also from the operating system (iOS or Android). Checking your device’s notification settings is the fastest way to reactivate service.
Next Steps:
Training 🗓️
Free access to continuous professional development
Resouce Highlight ✨
The ready-to-use, relevant resource you need
Don’t forget to share your licence key code EDU-SAF-SCH-TH with your colleagues!
Stay Safer this Christmas 🎄
My Child’s First Device Poster
With Christmas approaching, many young people will receive a new device or an upgrade. While they may be tech-savvy, it’s vital they are also taught how to be tech-safe. Our exclusive shareable, My Child’s First Device, provides 5 key steps for keeping children safer on new phones, tablets and laptops.
Access the Teach Hub to share this essential resource with your entire school community in the run-up to the holidays. 🎅
Community News and Updates 📢
What’s happening in your area?
C2K Conference Success: Ready to Bring Digital Wellbeing to Your School? 🌟
During November we had an exceptional day of collaboration at the recent C2K Digital Literacy and Wellbeing Conference in W5!
It was fantastic to meet so many of you and discuss the vital topics of digital literacy, empowerment, and protection within the NI education community. From presentations on the main stage to in-depth one-to-one discussions, our team Natalie, Rebecca, Kathryn, and Colin were delighted to engage with fellow professionals.
It remains our privilege to Educate, Empower, and Protect your professionals and their communities across Northern Ireland.
Missed us there? Ready to see more? We’re ready to bring our expertise directly to your school. Get in touch with us to arrange a training session or a personalised demo of our services. Just email us at [email protected] or check out our training prospectus below and submit a booking form.
Feature Spotlight ⭐️
Know your app’s full potential
Signpost Safety with Safeguarding and School Directories 📂
It is vital that children can identify their team of trusted adults and know where to go for help and support.
🏫 School and Staff Directory: clearly signpost your safeguarding team, key staff, and consolidate other school resources for easy access directly from the app.
🛡️ Safeguarding and Online Safety Help: This directory
offers a curated list of NI support organisations such as Childline, Crimestoppers and Aware NI.
📍NI Safeguarding Policies and Guidance: This directory provides relevant contacts for regional health services, acts and policies.
This ensures that all staff, parents, carers and children can easily find the people, help and resources they need at any time.
Remember! This feature can be enabled or disabled by administrators in your management portal.
Media News 🗞️
The top safeguarding and online safety stories from November
🚨 Safeguarding failings ‘watershed moment’ for church, child abuse expert says – Our CEO, Jim Gamble described a series of “serious and significant failings” in safeguarding in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, which led to its moderator stepping down, as a “watershed moment” requiring an immediate and independent “root and branch” inquiry.
🚀 Co Down school’s social media experiment goes viral to highlight online safety – Donard Special Needs School in Co Down conducted a viral social experiment by asking followers to share a photo on Facebook to teach students about online safety and digital boundaries, demonstrating how quickly the image could spread globally and be viewed by strangers.
🛍️ Police are warning shoppers to secure online accounts linked to retail apps – As the festive season approaches, the PSNI is urging shoppers to secure online retail accounts with strong passwords and two-step verification due to a rise in hacking attempts.
💻 Online safety ‘getting worse’, warns former UK cyber security agency boss – The former head of the UK’s cyber security agency warned that online safety is declining, especially for girls and young women due to rising misogyny and social media firms cutting safety budgets.
⚖️ NHS manager who groomed young girls on Snapchat jailed for 28 years for rape and abuse – A “devious” senior NHS executive was jailed for 28 years after admitting to multiple offences, including rape and sexual assault, after grooming six young girls on Snapchat
License, Links and Logins 🔑
All the relevant information you need to access the world of Safer Schools at your fingertips!
Teach Hub License Key: Use this code to access the Teach Hub and share it with all staff members: EDU-SAF-SCH-TH
Access your app using the entry codes provided by your school. If you haven’t received them or have lost them, please contact your school.
Equip yourself with Safer Schools!
“Did you know 74% of parent and carers want to know more to ensure their child is safe online.” Ofcom 2024
Make sure to follow us on social media for the latest updates and developments!
