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Mrs Faulkner’s Thought for the Week 14th October 2024
This week we are asking students to consider how they keep themselves safe. This is a huge topic, as it encompasses so many issues and evolves as students get older.
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Society today appears to be truncating childhood more and more. Some of the stories we hear from colleagues in primary school are quite frightening - the amount of students in reception classes with mobile phones, the amount of KS2 students on WhatsApp.
Our students have huge pressures on them nowadays that we did not have and perhaps at times fail to realise. We could escape into our homes without fear of being contacted on social media or being put in a Whats App group without our permission. Our young people today can never switch off, unless they make a conscious decision to do so. Our decision about 7 years ago to welcome Yondr into the school was not, as many of our students think, to stop them having fun. It was to help them connect in a very real sense with their friends and our school community, instead being constantly contactable with people they know and do not know. It gave them a breather from having to portray an image or keep their streaks going.
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There are of course more old school ways where they need to consider their safety. Secondary school ages see a tremendous development in students independence and ability to make their own choices. They enter in Year 7 confident they know about the world as they have been ‘top of the tree’ in primary school and then they have five years navigating puberty, age related social expectations, the opposite sex, academic pressures and moving into further education. There is so much for them to do, and whilst doing it, they almost have to risk assess dynamically to protect themselves. Of course, most people have parents and carers to support this risk assessment and then we gradually release the figurative reins. In my humble opinion, as the mother of a soon to be 18-year-old, that is far harder for the parent than the child! Parental worries change from will they make friends at secondary school, how well will they do in their GCSEs or whether their first girlfriend/boyfriend is right for them to seeing them drive off in their own car and going to college.
When you look at the risks in society today for young people you might think of drink spiking, readily available drugs, sextortion, knife crime, and many more besides. If you thought logically about all of this you would want to keep your children at home until they were about thirty-five. However, you have to comfort yourself with knowing that you have shown them how to make wise life choices, whilst crossing your fingers they remember everything.
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There have always been risks for young people across all the ages. We are just more aware of them; due to the fact you can’t sneeze in one area of the world without it possibly being posted somewhere for all to see. Risk has also become more sophisticated and pernicious due to the development of modern technology.
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The world today is an amazing place- full of exciting opportunities and thrilling experiences. Travel is easier and keeping in touch with family and friends across the world is simple. With this backdrop however we have a social responsibility to keep each other safe and that is what we want our students to consider- how to be full and positive members of 21st century society, whilst making sure they keep themselves safe and secure.
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