Incident Description
An 11-year-old sent a pornographic video to six other boys in his class.
School already had concerns he was hanging around with an older group of boys.
All of the other boys had left home for a school residential trip and left their phones at home.
One parent who opened the message alerted the school.
School spoke with the parent/carer of boy who had sent the video and asked them to delete it.
Two previous incidents – one this same academic year and one last year:
He had forwarded a Tik Tok post about National Rape Day to the WhatsApp group.
He had posted explicit sexual language in the WhatsApp group directly to one of the girls.
Guidance for Safeguarding Response
- School were advised by their safeguarding consultant to report to police for possible distribution of indecent images. It is important this is done as soon as possible and to seek advice on whether the post/message should be deleted or preserved as evidence
- School advised by their safeguarding consultant to refer to children’s school care
- School completed online safety work 1:1 with the child who had sent the video and focussed on possible exploitation awareness
- School delivered appropriate content around healthy relationships and consent with the whole class and additional work with a targeted group
Additional actions which could be considered:
- Pol-ed sessions for the child and wider peer group from KS2 and KS3 resources such as ‘What is grooming?’, ‘How can we use our phones safely?’ ad ‘What is sexism?’
Agencies Involved in this Incident
Police.
Children’s social care.