At Broomhill Primary School, we are aware of the benefits of social media tools and value them as forms of communication.  We are also very mindful that some forms of social media for people aged 13 and over are open to many forms of abuse, including cyberbullying.

As such, we do not expect our pupils to be accessing social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok etc and appreciate your cooperation and understanding. As ever, our primary concern is for the safety of your child in this matter. Whilst we know that many children in our school are accessing these platforms, we would ask you to reconsider the appropriateness of this. All social media platforms have a minimum age of 13 – WhatsApp is 16. This age restriction is set to protect your child from abuse and bullying/bystanding whilst online.

We know that all families have different values and views, and it is therefore difficult to make decisions that will please everybody involved. Nonetheless we feel that it is not acceptable for anyone to use social media platforms to make negative statements about children, parents or members of staff that belong to our school community. We greatly appreciate you informing us of any groups or individuals who use social media platforms to target children, other parents or staff members so that we can take any necessary action. We recognise that the majority of our school community use social media in a sensible and appropriate way and are very grateful.

We believe that the opinions of all members of our school community, whether negative or positive, are extremely useful in helping us to improve the support and impact of your child’s education. Therefore, we invite you to use the correct channels to make contact with school so that any matters can be discussed in the most appropriate way. You can get in touch with us by emailing the headteacher or a depute, phoning the school office or contacting the Parent Council.

Yours in partnership,

Wendy Cameron, Headteacher