Guidance published on dealing with ‘sexting’ in schools
In 2010, the government established the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) to discuss and take action on topical issues concerning children’s use of the internet.
More on UKCCIS can be found online here: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/uk-council-for-child-internet-safety-ukccis
In August 2016 UKCCIS published new non-statutory guidance for schools on responding to incidents of ‘sexting’. The guidance covers areas such as:
- Responding to disclosures
- Handling devices and imagery
- Risk-assessing situations
- Involving other agencies
- Preventative education
- Working with parents
- Reporting imagery to providers
The guidance on sexting is non-statutory, but is designed to be read alongside the Department for Education’s statutory safeguarding guidance, Keeping Children Safe in Education, and its non-statutory advice on Searching, Screening and Confiscation.
The guidance defines sexting on page 5 as "youth-produced sexual imagery", i.e. young people sharing sexual photographs or videos that they or another young person have created of themselves.
A guidance document for schools on sexting, developed by organisations including Kent County Council and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) features advice on addressing sexting in school policies:
Example policies from primary schools
Croxteth Primary School in Liverpool includes information about peer-to-peer abuse, including sexting, on pages 12-13 of its safeguarding policy.
Halstow Primary School has an e-safety policy that includes information about various e-safety issues, including sexting (see page 9).
Example policies from secondary schools
John Port School in Derbyshire has a sexting policy that relays guidance on dealing with incidents, including how to limit the negative impact of incidents and prevent them from occurring in future.
Glenthorne High School has an anti-sexting policy which forms part of its safeguarding policy, and is also referenced in its behaviour and e-safety policies.
Guidance for Young People
As part of their #Be Cyber Smart campaign, Warwickshire Police have put together some guidance for young people on the use of social media and 'sexting' activities. We would encourage schools to promote this within school and refer young people to the website for advice and guidance: https://www.warwickshire.police.uk/article/10484/Sexting-Think-twice
More information about online safety can also be found at:
https://www.getsafeonline.org/