Staying safe and telling a trusted adult
Computer Science · Key Stage 1 · The School
Trust the feeling
Sometimes a message, a picture or a request online feels wrong, even before you can say exactly why. That feeling matters. It is not being silly or too sensitive. It is worth listening to, every single time. That feeling is a signal.
What to do straight away
Do not reply. Do not click a link. Do not send anything back. Leave the screen, if you can. Then go and tell a trusted adult exactly what happened. Doing nothing and staying quiet is the one choice that helps nobody, including you.
You are never in trouble for telling
Some children stay quiet because they worry they will be blamed or have their device taken away. Telling a trusted adult is never the wrong choice, even if you clicked something you should not have. Adults would always rather know than not know.
Working out who a trusted adult is
A trusted adult is someone you already know well in real life, not someone you only met online. A parent. A carer. A teacher. A grandparent. It is NOT the person who sent the strange message, however kind they claim to be, and it is NOT a stranger online, however helpful they sound. If you cannot decide who to tell, telling more than one trusted adult is always allowed, and always better than telling nobody at all.
A habit that keeps you safe
Deciding who your trusted adults are BEFORE something goes wrong makes it easier to act quickly when it matters. Talk about it now, while nothing has happened. Then you already know exactly who to go to. This is worth doing today.