School Online Concern Reporting and Support Procedure

This procedure is for use where a primary or secondary maintained school or academy in England provides online-safety education or support. The school should adapt its reporting routes and support information to pupil age, accessibility needs, known safeguarding risks and its current internal and external referral arrangements.

1. If you are worried about something online

Tell a trusted adult. A trusted adult may be a member of school staff or another adult identified by the school. You can report a concern to [school reporting contact] using [school reporting route].

You can also access support from the school, the police, the National Crime Agency’s Click CEOP reporting service for children, or organisations such as Childline and the Internet Watch Foundation.

2. Reporting inappropriate contact or content

If someone has contacted you inappropriately, or you have seen inappropriate content, report it through the reporting route provided by the platform or app. You can also tell a trusted adult and use the school’s child-friendly reporting mechanism.

The school’s current platform and app reporting information is available at [platform reporting information].

3. Reporting cyber crime, fraud or suspicious online activity

Where appropriate, report cyber crime, fraud or suspicious online activity through organisations such as Action Fraud. An online scam advertisement may be reported to the Advertising Standards Authority.

4. Connection with safeguarding and child protection

Online concern reporting must connect with the school’s wider policies and processes for reporting safeguarding and child-protection incidents and concerns. Report a concern to school staff through [safeguarding reporting route] and follow the school’s current safeguarding and child-protection arrangements.

The school’s safeguarding and child-protection reporting information is available at [safeguarding policy location].

5. Planning an online-safety lesson or activity

Before an online-safety lesson or activity, consider the topic and the possibility that a pupil in the group may be experiencing online abuse or harm.

Where appropriate, involve the designated safeguarding lead or deputy when planning a safeguarding-related lesson or activity. Consider known safeguarding cases and how the lesson may affect pupils who could be especially impacted.

Where the school is already aware that a child is being abused or harmed online, plan the lesson carefully and do not draw attention to that child in a way that highlights or publicises the abuse.

6. Creating a safe reporting environment

Create an environment in which pupils feel comfortable saying what they feel. Make clear that pupils can use the school’s child-friendly reporting mechanisms and obtain help if a lesson or activity causes them to recognise that they are being abused or harmed.

Keep the reporting route visible and explain it in language suited to the pupils’ age and needs. The school’s child-friendly reporting information is available at [child friendly reporting information].

7. When a pupil reports a concern after a lesson or activity

A pupil may disclose a concern after an online-safety lesson or activity because the lesson helped the pupil recognise that they are being abused or harmed, or gave them confidence to say something.

When a pupil reports a concern, use the school’s child-friendly reporting mechanism and connect the concern to the school’s safeguarding and child-protection reporting process through [post lesson safeguarding route].

The designated safeguarding lead or deputy should be involved in planning relevant safeguarding lessons and activities where appropriate, so that known safeguarding cases and pupils who may be especially impacted can be considered.