Topics for this month:

MOMO – Online Safety
Momo is a sinister ‘challenge’ that has been around for some time. It has recently resurfaced and once again has come to the attention of schools and children across the country. Dubbed the ‘suicide killer game’, Momo has been heavily linked with apps such as Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube, and most recently YouTube Kids. The scary doll-like figure reportedly sends graphic violent images and asks users to partake in dangerous challenges like waking up at random hours and has even been associated with self-harm.

The National Online Safety organisation have provided a list of ‘top tips for parents’ to help prevent children in their care being affected by Momo:

  1. Tell them it’s not real
  2. Be present whilst children in your care are online
  3. Talk regularly with your children about their online activities to encourage confidence in discussing any issue or concerns they may have
  4. Utilise device settings and parental controls
  5. Make sure you talk to children about how they shouldn’t succumb to peer pressure and do anything they are uncomfortable with

For further support parents and carers can speak to their child’s safeguarding officer at school. It is also important for children to know where they can seek help if they have seen something distressing and who their trusted adults are. Counsellors at ChildLine can also be reached on 0800 1111.

Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month – March 2019

Every year 7,300 women in the UK are diagnosed with ovarian cancer and just one in five women in the UK are able to name bloating as a symptom of ovarian cancer.

Other symptoms can include:

  • Persistent bloating – not bloating that comes and goes
  • Feeling full quickly and/or loss of appetite
  • Pelvic or abdominal pain (that’s your tummy and below)
  • Urinary symptoms (needing to wee more urgently or more often than usual)

Occasionally there can be other symptoms such as:

  • Changes in bowel habits
  • Extreme fatigue (feeling very tired)
  • Unexplained weight loss

It is important that we raise awareness of Ovarian Cancer so that symptoms are identified as early as possible and appointments for GPs can be arranged quickly. The leaflet covers the symptoms leaflet that we would like you to circulate. More information can be found at: https://www.targetovariancancer.org.uk/information-and-support/what-ovarian-cancer/ovarian-cancer-symptoms

Click here for more information;

Ovarian Cancer 

Child Exploitation Awareness

Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) is when an adult coerces or gives a child something in exchange for allowing sexual acts to be performed by or on them. This could be in person, online or on camera.


CSE can be very hard to spot. Sometimes young people themselves don’t realise what is happening. They may believe they are in a loving relationship. They may believe what they’re being asked to do is ‘normal’. If they do realise they are being abused, they may feel trapped. They may feel unable to tell anyone what is going on.

Every 3 minutes a child runs away from home or care and each year 100,000 children go missing in the UK. These children are at risk of sexual exploitation, involvement in crime, substance misuse and homelessness. But many children show signs long before they leave, and it is possible to spot these signs and act.

Included are useful awareness resources of CSE, published by Catch 22:

  • Prevent a young person going missing – spot the signs
  • CSE – Think boys! 1 in 3 victims of CSE is a boy
  • Positive relationships break – the CSE cycle
  • Child Criminal Exploitation – How gangs recruit and coerce young people
  • Push and pull factors – What causes a child to go missing
  • Different dangers, same signs

More information can be found via https://www.catch-22.org.uk/news/spot-the-signs-cse-awareness-poster-hub/?mc_cid=44cbca3415&mc_eid=d2a4253130

Jessie and Friends

For the first time, the National Crime Agency is engaging with children as young as four in a bid to help protect them online as the number of global child sexual abuse referrals has rocketed.

Parents, carers and teachers can use Jessie & Friends – a fun, friendly and age-appropriate education resource based on a three-episode series of animations – to help to keep 4-7 year olds safe online.

The aim of Jessie and Friends is to provide protective education to children before they begin to encounter such risks online, making children less likely to become victims and less likely to be targeted by high-risk offenders. Engaging activities, designed for classroom use, support children to recognise manipulative strategies in online chat – just like those typically used by offenders to groom children.

Crucially, Jessie & Friends helps children learn to ask a trusted adult for help whenever they feel worried.

The Jessie & Friends resources can be accessed via https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/jessie-and-friends

Did you know?…

According to a recent Ofcom report, 19% of 3-4 year olds and 43% of 5-7 year olds have access to their own tablets, and 52% of 3-4 year olds and 82% of 5-7 year olds go online for an average of nine hours or more each week. Therefore, experts at the National Crime Agency are encouraging adults to start the dialogue about online safety with children as young as 4.