Dear year six parents and carers
This morning, whilst driving their child to school, a parent had to swerve their car to avoid a group of year six children pushing and shoving each other in the middle of the road.
Such behaviour is unacceptable and, if it continues, I will have no choice but to ask the parents of those children involved to drop-off and collect their children from school.
Whilst this is incident involved only a small group of pupils, I ask all parents and carers to remind their children of the inherent dangers and potential risks of walking to school, especially considering how very busy the roads around school are at the beginning and end of the day.
Also, it has come to our attention that several children in year six are using the WhatsApp messaging service and that they are messaging each other in the early hours of the morning between 1.00am and 3.00am.
The minimum age for using WhatsApp is 13 years old so no year six children should be using it; we have also had to deal with several incidents in school which have occurred as a direct result of children’s inappropriate conversations via the app.
I therefore also ask year six parents and carers to discuss this issue with your children and to find out if they are using WhatsApp and whether they are using it overnight?
As a school, safeguarding our children is of paramount importance; it is our core purpose. Children using their phones unregulated overnight is a significant safeguarding concern. If staff continue to become aware of, for example, inappropriate WhatsApp use then such incidences will be fully investigated which may lead to other agency involvement.
Year six is a tough year and, especially when considering the implications of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, they all need to arrive at school fresh and rested after having had a really good night’s sleep.
There is a significant amount of information concerning e-safety; how parents can regulate children’s access to messaging services such as WhatsApp and Facebook and apps which can be downloaded onto an adult’s phone to facilitate this.
If there are any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me, especially if advice required regarding parental control applications.
Thank you for your cooperation with both these issues.
Mr Langford
