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Welcome to the NYSCP December 2024 edition of our e-bulletin
Well, here we are — the last e-bulletin of the year!
As we approach the end of 2024, we will no doubt lament how quickly the year has flown by and all that there is still to do while juggling festive, family, and work responsibilities, wondering how we are going to ensure all on the virtual tick list happens. I for one have put the sprouts on already – just to be prepared and am typing this one-handed whilst consuming my body weight in Quality Street and listening to Cliff… (only one of those statements is true) ….
Christmas is often a time for gifting devices and games to children, and it can be challenging to keep up with new games, apps, and features. We’re here to help you navigate this. To support families this holiday season, the NYSCP Business Unit, alongside our MACE Child Exploitation Officer, has curated a range of helpful resources to share with parents and carers as part of our monthly “Do your PART topic”, to help improve understanding of any new technology bought or used over this time.
This information will help aid understanding of security and parental settings, advise on screen time, provide helpful hints on family device usage, and help create new agreements on how devices will be used, and information shared with others. We hope that this is of use to partners to share with families via newsletter over the Christmas period and to promote safer online awareness throughout the year.
There is also information focussing on financial as well as emotional support that can be accessed over the festive period.
Lastly, a Christmas wish from us here at the NYSCP – Any feedback, thoughts, or suggestions on the type of information that is useful, or that you would like to see in the bulletin would be greatly appreciated. We can be contacted at nyscp@northyorks.gov.uk.
A big Thank You to our subscribers. Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas!
Hannah, Kirsty, Kat, Haydn, Gemma, Alison, and Steph – The NYSCP Business Unit.
Jump to…
- Do your PART
- Cost of Living Support
- FREE Oral Health eLearning
- North Yorkshire Police – Padlet
- Department for Education Releases Updated Filtering and Monitoring Standards – UK Safer Internet Centre
- Child Exploitation Language Guide
- Practitioner Forum
- Emotional and Mental Health
- North Yorkshire Prevent Training Jan-Apr 2025
- Upcoming Training: Lunchtime Learning Events
- Private Fostering Arrangements
Do Your PART This Holiday Season
Remember these key steps to Do Your PART:
- Protect: Enable parental controls on devices, set strong passwords, and review privacy settings.
- Advise: Talk to your children about the importance of online safety, emphasising responsible sharing and the risks of oversharing.
- Report: Encourage open communication so they feel comfortable reporting anything that makes them feel uneasy.
- Teach: Show them how to recognise phishing attempts, secure their accounts, and spot inappropriate content.
Protect
Security and Parental Settings.
Use the parental control settings on your devices to restrict access to inappropriate content. Take time before gifting to understand how this can be done – we know that it’s a lot harder to set this up when you have an excited child on your hands on Christmas day!
Follow step-by-step guides to set up parental controls on your smartphone or tablet.
NSPCC: Offers comprehensive advice on setting up parental controls to keep children safe online. They provide guidance on managing content filters, screen time, and privacy settings.
Wi-Fi Security.
Enable content filters on your home Wi-Fi to block adult content.
Many ISPs (Internet Service Providers) implement safety restrictions at the network level when setting up home internet. These restrictions are designed to block access to potentially harmful or inappropriate content; however, checks need to be done with individual suppliers to understand the level to which this has been done. Parents can check with their provider or via websites such as Internet Matters Network, which offers comprehensive guides on setting up parental controls for various ISPs, including step-by-step videos and visual instruction.
Please be aware that further controls can be applied to devices themselves and at game or app level, and that wi-fi restrictions will not operate if children are using their devices on mobile data – these need to be set up separately.
Parental Control Options – Devices.
Remember that devices have content filters built in that require set up, which can include time management settings, for example on SMART TV’s that can manage what your child can watch/access.
Platform Guidelines.
There areprivacy and data sharing policies of online platforms, apps and games, as well as recommended age limits. These can help you understand how your child’s data is used. Age limits are applied for a reason and are not just limited to data protection. Age limits aims to protect children from risks such as cyberbullying, exposure to inappropriate content, and online harms.
Group messaging such as WhatsApp is a great way to keep in touch with multiple friends, however, they can quickly turn into a headache when the messages start piling up. Parents need to be aware of all features such as location sharing, and chat lock which will remove a chat thread from the app’s regular onscreen inbox and place it into a new folder that can only be opened by a password or biometric, such as facial recognition or a fingerprint.
Internet Matters has step-by-step guides to support users and outline key functions. Internet Matters Social Media Settings
Advise
Managing Screen Time.
Set a daily screen time limit for recreational use on all devices. Set realistic and flexible screen time schedules that account for school, leisure, and family activities. We recognise that every family and child is different, and parents will know how device usage impacts their own child, so set goals and limits that are realistic and workable for you. Children could be asked to contribute to what they think is fair.
Encourage the use of apps with educational value, and balance screen use with physical play and outdoor activities. Know what works for your child, and what impacts their mood and wellbeing. You can use screen time management apps to set reminders for breaks.
We know that our children will role model what they see, so it may be that we need to be mindful of our own device use, no matter how difficult that can be!
Report
Agree on Family Device Usage.
Be clear on rules from the outset. Ideas include creating a family charging station in a common area to keep devices out of bedrooms and non-shared areas and drafting a family agreement to ensure everyone’s on the same page regarding device usage. Commonsense Media and Internet Matters both have contract templates to download. Commonsense Media_ Device Contract.
Open Communication.
Regularly ask your child about their online activities and friends. We know that they will love to tell you about their latest Roblox or Minecraft adventures! Fostering open and honest conversations about online usage allows interests to be shared and for children to understand the many positives of online life as well as the pitfalls. Encourage co-viewing of online content to discuss and understand their interests and discuss the content.
Discuss acceptable online behaviour with your children, emphasising kindness and respect in digital interactions. Arm them with knowledge of how to mute groups, leave and to share worries with you. Make sure your children know they can come to you with any concerns about their online experiences without fear of punishment.
For older children, talk about consent, the sharing of images and how to report and get help.
CEOP – Think You Know has information on this, online sexual harassment, healthy relationships and more.11-18s | CEOP Education. They also have information for younger children as well as professionals, parents and carers.
Use shared accounts for younger children to keep tabs on their activity, and schedule regular check-ins to discuss any concerns or questions.
Teach
Health.
Promote a healthy balance of on and offline activity – with the understanding that our children’s lives are different to ours with much of their socialisation online.
Keep devices out of bedrooms overnight to promote better sleep habits. Explain to children how device activity before bed can hinder their sleep.
Start Early.
Preschoolers: Begin with basic concepts like not talking to strangers online and asking for permission before using devices.
Primary KS1: Introduce the idea of personal information and why it should be kept private. Use simple language to explain the risks.
Tweens and Teens: Discuss more complex topics such as cyberbullying, online predators, and the importance of a positive digital footprint.
Use Real-Life Scenarios.
Role-play situations where your child might encounter a stranger online or receive a suspicious message. Discuss how they should respond. Teach Critical Thinking. Encourage your children to question the authenticity of online information and to think before they click on links or share personal details.
Parental Advice Websites for Online Safety and Device Setup
NSPCC – Offers comprehensive advice on setting up parental controls and keeping children safe online. Keeping children safe online | NSPCC
Internet Matters – Provides detailed guides and resources for setting up parental controls on various devices and platforms. Keep Children Safe Online: Information, Advice, Support – Internet Matters
UK Safer Internet Centre – Offers a parents’ guide to technology, including safety tools and advice for responsible use. Homepage – UK Safer Internet Centre
CEOP – The National Crime Agency’s CEOP Education team. CEOP Education
Common Sense Media – Is an independent voice for kids, families, and communities everywhere. They combine original research with game-changing advocacy efforts to make the digital world work better for all kids. Common Sense Media: Age-Based Media Reviews for Families | Common Sense Media
Cost of Living Support
As winter approaches, many households face increased financial pressures due to higher heating bills and other seasonal expenses. The following organisations and schemes are available to support families that may need it.
Foodbanks: Foodbanks provide emergency food supplies to those in need. Organisations like the Trussell Trust operate foodbanks across North Yorkshire. You typically need a referral from a local agency to access these services.
Clothing Banks: Clothing banks offer free clothes and shoes to those in need. For example, the Harrogate Clothes Bank provides pre-loved clothing to the community, as does theclothingbank.org.uk
Community Support Organisations: Various local organisations offer support, including Warm Welcome Spaces where people can find a warm place to stay and access other resources.
Warm & Well – North Yorkshire Citizens Advice and Law Centre (NYCALC)
Emergency Payments:
Local Assistance Fund
The North Yorkshire Local Assistance Fund (NYLAF) provides emergency support for essential items such as food, utilities, and household goods. Applications are made through authorised agencies such as Children & Family Hubs, Living Well, IDAS.
North Yorkshire local assistance fund | North Yorkshire Partnerships
Budgeting Loans:
If you’re on certain benefits, you may be eligible for a budgeting loan to help with unexpected expenses. These loans are interest-free and repayable over time.
For further information, please see an extensive guide at – Cost of Living Support | North Yorkshire Council
Citizens Advice: Offers free, confidential advice on a range of issues, including benefits, debt, and housing. They can help you navigate the various support options available. North Yorkshire Citizens Advice & Law Centre
Food Banks > Healthy Schools North Yorkshire – Information on Foodbanks
Vulnerability Commitment – Energy UK Tackling Financial Insecurity Together | Turn2us – For advice, grants and support.
FREE Oral Health eLearning
As we head into the season laden with sweet treats it may be helpful to know that there is FREE bite-sized oral health eLearning for front-line practitioners working with children and young people.
To access please create a free account with Harrogate District Foundation Trust’s NHS Learning Hub:
- https://learninghub.nhs.uk/Registration/CreateAccountRegInfo Users are encouraged to use a workforce email address such as @nhs.net or @gov.uk but you can get on with a personal email such @gmail.com
- Once registered you can access the courses here https://learninghub.nhs.uk/catalogue/hdft?nodeId=7207
- You will receive a certificate upon completion.
- For anyone employed by North Yorkshire Council these courses can be accessed via North Yorkshire’s Learning Zone.
North Yorkshire Police – Padlet
North Yorkshire Police have created a “padlet” to support DSLs, covering a range of information including how to contact your local Police School Liaison Officers, to NYP support that can be offered and helpful resources.
Please see North Yorkshire Police – Support for DSL’s – North Yorkshire County for further information.
Department for Education Releases Updated Filtering and Monitoring Standards – UK Safer Internet Centre
The Department for Education (DfE) has updated its standards for how schools and colleges filter and monitor online content.
For more information and a summary of key updates please see – the Department for Education releases Updated Filtering and Monitoring Standards – UK Safer Internet Centre
Child Exploitation Language Guide
NYSCP is pleased to share the exciting news that the ‘Appropriate Language Guide’ for child exploitation and abuse has now been published and is available on The Children’s Society’s website, please see this link below:
Child Exploitation Language Guide | The Children’s Society
The guide is available in both English and Welsh and has been co-developed with the CSE Taskforce and the National Association for People Abused in Childhood.
To promote the use of positive language across the partnership, a series of resources have been created and collated by NYSCP to help practitioners consider the words and phrases that they may use when speaking to and about young people. It encourages consideration of the impact language can have on children and young people, as well as parents and carers affected by exploitation or other forms of extra-familial harm. This includes not just language used verbally, but information that is written in files, case notes, statements, assessments, and reports.
These resources, alongside a series of partnership principles and questions for reflection are collated on out BeAware knowledge Hub, which can be accessed at the following page: NYSCP
Practitioner Forum
Thank you to the 22 frontline practitioners who attended the first NYSCP Practitioner Forum meeting on 13th November.
Partners joined us from a wide variety of agencies and services and participated in group discussions and online polls to establish how they would like the group to develop and what value they feel it will bring to frontline partitioners. Here’s what some of them had to say:
“It about keeping up to date with information and networking and knowing we are not alone”.
“For my area of work – finding out gaps in knowledge so we can help understand/education around topics to help safeguarding finding out new and important points of contact.”
“Information sharing, working with others to share practice, understand how we can support each other and vice versa.”
“Build good working relationships. Develop services together with shared knowledge and experiences.”
“The ability to have our views considered within decision making…having our voices in the background of decision makers can only help.”
Meetings will now take place every 6 weeks via Teams, with the next meeting being:
15th January 2025, 12:00 – 13:00
For this meeting the group agreed to look at the NYSCP website and how we can make it more valuable and accessible for frontline practitioners as well as children and families.
The agenda items will continue to be set by frontline practitioners, so if you have any ideas that you would like to be covered in the forum please get it touch.
The group is open to all frontline practitioners and volunteers working with children and families, and there is no commitment to attend every session – just join those you can.
For more information and to access the Teams Link to join please email: nyscp@northyorks.gov.uk
Emotional and Mental Health
The holiday season can be a challenging time for mental and emotional health. Here are some valuable resources to support both adults and children during Christmas:
For Adults
Mind: Mind offers tips and advice on coping with the holiday season, including managing stress, dealing with loneliness, and maintaining mental well-being.
Samaritans: Provides 24/7 support for anyone struggling to cope. They offer a safe space to talk about whatever is troubling you.
Call 116 123 or visit –Contact Us | Samaritans
NHS: The NHS offers advice on managing mental health during the holidays, including tips on dealing with stress and where to find support.
NHS Mental Health Support – Mental health – NHS
For Children
The Go To: The Go To website is the home of wellbeing and mental health for young people in North Yorkshire and provides a wealth of information and practical advice for children, young people, their carers and professionals.
The Go-To – Emotional wellbeing and mental health
YoungMinds: Offers advice on supporting children and young people with their mental health, including how to handle anxiety around Christmas.
Helping Your Child with Anxiety at Christmas
The Children’s Society: Provides tips for managing children’s mental health during the festive season, including maintaining routines and understanding their needs.
Supporting Children’s Mental Health at Christmas
Childline: Offers free, confidential support for children and young people. They provide a safe space to talk about any worries or concerns.
Resource: Call 0800 1111 or visit Childline – Childline | Childline
Kooth: Kooth is a free, safe and anonymous online wellbeing service for children and young people. The Kooth team provide free, safe and anonymous online support and counselling. The whole team are made up of friendly and experienced individuals and are a bacp accredited service. Home – Kooth
Shout!: Shout is the UK’s first and only 24/7 text service for anyone in crisis. Get free, confidential mental health support anytime, anywhere. Text ‘Shout’ to 85258.
Prevent
The Northeast Prevent monthly newsletter is produced by the Prevent Education Coordinator working for DfE, Christopher Sybenga. This free resource supports educational providers to be Prevent compliant for OFSTED inspections. The newsletter highlights free courses delivered by DfE, free Prevent resources/linked articles. In addition, it highlights related media articles within the Northeast. As a school or provider feel free to sign up using the following Link
North Yorkshire Prevent Training Jan-Apr 2025: A number of training sessions are scheduled for January – April 2025. Places can be booked via Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/prevent-training-offer-2025-3793273 .
Training will include:
- Introduction to Prevent
- Introductory Guide to Incel Subculture
- Introduction to Prevent for Education Settings.
Further training sessions will be added throughout the year. Please visit Prevent | North Yorkshire Partnerships for further information.
Upcoming Training: Lunchtime Learning Events
Our lunchtime learning events are free monthly online webinars covering a wide variety of safeguarding themes.
4th December (2-hour session 12:00 – 14:00) Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023: In this extended webinar, partners will have the opportunity to learn about the changes that have been implemented across the partnership following the release of the new Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023. Statutory partners will each share what the changes to the document have meant in their sector, and the business unit will share key partnership updates in relation to safeguarding structures, documents and processes. Importantly you will learn what the changes mean to you and your practice and how you can continue to disseminate this learning across wider teams.
15th January 2025, NYSCP Developments in Safeguarding Learning Session Vaping Workshop: This workshop will present a summary of findings from insights work into young people and vaping conducted by the Behavioural Science team based within North Yorkshire Public Health. A series of focus groups were conducted in the first half of 2024 with groups of young people aged 11-16. The insights from the focus groups highlight the young people’s views and understanding of vaping, in addition to the factors that may influence young people to vape or not. A series of recommendations have been collated that look at how to these findings can be utilised moving forward.
Why not check out some of the recordings from our previous sessions on our YouTube channel. NYSCP – YouTube and follow us on our social media channels for the latest updates and news.
Private Fostering Arrangements
There are occasions when a child or young person may need to live with people other than their parent(s) or direct members of their family. This can be a positive experience for children and young people, providing access to new opportunities, and helping alleviate pressures on families.
Private Fostering is when children or young persons under the age of 16 years or 18 years if they are disabled, are cared for on a full-time basis by a person who is not their parent, a person with parental responsibility or a “close relative” for 28 days or more.
Guidance has been issued to local authorities on their duty to protect privately fostered children and to enhance awareness and reporting of Private Fostering arrangements.
The NYSCP website has information on the arrangements including summaries, a video for parents and carers, and practice guidance for professionals. NYSCP
Useful Links
- Worried about a child?
- NYSCP Website, including
- NSPCC – CASPAR Weekly updated
- CEOP – Think U Know
- CYPS info
Did you know you can sign up to receive this bulletin directly into your inbox at NYSCP e-Bulletin (mailchi.mp)
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