Concern after anonymous profile on social media posts photos and captions of year 7 pupils

A worrying issue has come to light on Social Media in the last few days. It surrounds a couple of Instagram accounts that have been created to share pictures and videos. Concerningly, the images consist mainly of year 7 pupils and are accompanied by horrible captions.  

It’s hard enough being a child in these times with the issues surrounding knives and other such criminal activity. However, now they have to contend with fear over being bullied openly on social media.

We appreciate that most responsible parents will know what their children are doing online. Unfortunately though, not all parents seem to be as strict or aware of what their kids are up to.

We aren’t going to share the accounts, as we don’t want them to become more popular.  Instead, we’ve reported the accounts to Instagram, and a parent has also reported the matter to Oasis Academy, Mayfield.

Many will know that most of the popular social media services require users to be at least 13 years of age before they can register.  The age requirements are there because of data protection laws.

Alarmingly, Ofcom’s Children and Parents Media Use and Attitudes report (released in 2017) found that 51% of 12-year-olds, 46% of 11-year-olds and 28% of 10-year-olds now have a social media profile.

Let’s hope the accounts are removed as soon as possible. In the meantime, we would urge parents and/or carers to be actively checking what social accounts are being used.