Darlington parents to be issued with internet safety guide (From The Northern Echo)

Darlington parents to be issued with internet safety guide

8:03am Saturday 14th November 2009 in

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EVERY parent in the home town of teenager Ashleigh Hall is to be sent details about how to keep their child safe on the internet.

A task group is also to be set up in Darlington to look at the best ways to make sure children are aware of the dangers of the internet.

Those dangers were highlighted again yesterday when a North-East man was convicted of engaging in sexual activity with a teenager he met on Facebook.

David Leach, 42, had promised the teenage boy some barwork after making contact via the networking site, before taking him to his home for sex.

It is hoped the tragic case of Ashleigh’s death can be used to highlight the potential dangers and the best way to deal with them.

The task group was set up following the launch of The Northern Echo’s Safety Net campaign, in partnership with Darlington Borough Council, which aims to make internet safety a compulsory part of the school curriculum for children of all ages.

The campaign has been backed by Ashleigh’s mother, Andrea Hall, and her grandfather, Mike Hall.

Last night, Mr Hall said: “We really don’t want her death to go unregarded.

“We hope that something good can come out of all this.

“People need to learn that they have to think twice or even three times before meeting someone that they met over the internet.”

Ashleigh’s body was discovered in a field outside Sedgefield, County Durham, on October 26.

The former Hurworth School pupil had gone missing after leaving home the previous day to meet a man she had met on a social networking website.

Following her death, Ashleigh’s mother warned parents to make sure they know what their children are doing on the internet.

The campaign will also focus on cyberbullying, an issue raised this week by Schools Secretary Ed Balls at the launch of national antibullying week.

A study by the National Centre for Social Research has found that cyberbullying – by mobile phone, email and on websites – is now as common as name-calling among teenagers.

Mr Balls said: “We know that mobile phones or computer screens can be used to taunt and bully young people, which can have devastating consequences.

“I want parents to feel confident coming forward and reporting bullying incidents to schools.”

This week, Darlington Council’s director of education, Murray Rose, distributed guidelines to every headteacher.

The letter will be sent to parents via pupils, and contains information about the council’s internet safety trainers and also where to find out more information about how to keep safe on the web.

Mr Rose said: “Young people using the internet at home often are not provided with such rigorous security, but our learning technologies team are well-placed to provide advice and resources to parents on request.”

The move follows a report to the council’s education scrutiny committee, which heard that teaching internet safety is not a mandatory requirement in schools.

Committee chairwoman Councillor Cyndi Hughes is in the process of setting up the task group, which will look at how to improve the way internet safety is taught in the borough.

Coun Hughes said: “Whatever we do has to be in the language of young people as it has to reach them and be phrased in a way that they are going to pay attention to it.

“We need to look at what we are all doing as a community in Darlington and we need to talk to each other.”

Coun Jenny Chapman, the ward councillor for Branksome, where Ashleigh lived, hopes to involve several people.

She also wants to work with young people at Darlington College, where Ashleigh studied childcare, to come up with understandable guidelines on internet safety.

She said: “We need to think really hard about doing something that comes from young people. You can’t stop people using sites like Facebook, and while you can have filters on at school, people will use them at home.

“Social networking is a wonderful thing in lots of ways, but you need to outline the risks. Not everybody is on there with the best of intentions.

“We can do something about this.”