The UK anti-bullying charity has produced a safeguarding Handbook with Securus which will be distributed to schools this week.
Securus provides child protection software for schools to protect them against cyber bullying, harmful websites and explicit images. The company monitors inappropriate activity on a network and alerts schools if there is anything that could put a child at risk.
The new partnership will see the two organisations working closely together to raise awareness of both preventative and responsive approaches to tackling cyber bullying and other challenges commonly faced by schools.
The safeguarding handbook will provide preventative measures and responsive approaches to help curb the number of cyber bullying incidents in UK schools.
"BeatBullying is pleased to be partnering with Securus, which has a decade of experience in helping schools adapt to new technologies," said Emma-Jane Cross, CEO and founder of BeatBullying. Protecting children has always been their clear focus and I’m sure that the Safeguarding Handbook, which is just the start of our collaboration, will be a very useful tool for schools. The Handbook supports the objectives of our popular BeatBullying training programmes which seek to create a culture in which bullying is unacceptable both on and offline.
The new initiative follows a report by Nominet Trust which revealed earlier this year that even online games were a source of cyber bullying.
The research found that 27% of British primary school students were experiencing bullying while playing games online.
Unmonitored use of technology at an early age was found to be one of the main problems with online bullying.
Almost 62% of children aged 8-11 have their own phone, personal computer, tablet, or gaming device that connects to the internet which means children are constantly susceptible to online bullying.
Nearly 50% of children surveyed said they felt schools should teach them more about how to protect themselves from online bullying. Another 34% said they wanted parents and teachers to learn more about cyber bullying in order to properly teach about protecting themselves from online harassment.
"Providing a safe and secure environment has never been more challenging for schools," said Russell Hobby, General Secretary of the National Association of Head teachers (NAHT). "New technologies have provided multiple platforms through which a range of threats to children can be played out, often publicly and usually indelibly. What schools need is to be made aware of any issues before they become serious – and to know how to respond effectively to each situation."
