Goodwood School is pushing for all its students to be social media free, says principal David Graham.
“We’ve got no 13-year-olds, so there’s no reason for anybody to be on social media, and we just want to support parents to say hey look, we know none of your friends are on this, so you don’t have to be on it either,” he said.
He said the school had robust filtering software and systems to ensure students couldn’t access social media during school hours.
He hoped that would continue at home.
“We’re just trying to empower our parents through our messaging to the community that hey, be proud to go to a social-media-free school and use that message with their children,” he said.
“It’s just to back them up really, because it’s pressure, because children say everyone else is on it, and we want to make sure, hey, that’s not the case, not at our school, or not in Cambridge.”
Graham said the school was actively promoting the message through newsletters and talking face-to-face with parents.
It was also urging parents to ensure their children did not lie about their age to access age-restricted games, platforms and sites.
He said every Cambridge school was coping with issues caused by children’s exposure to harmful content online.
Goodwood School students (from left) Sienna Peake, Carley Carson, Brodie Garrett, Ivan Gavrilov and Charlee Collins. Photo – supplied.
“When children are communicating online they don’t get the signals of body language, so sometimes children can say very mean, hurtful things online that they wouldn’t say to somebody’s face – and that can have a serious impact on mental health,” he said.
“As a country we are trying to lift school attendance rates. Sometimes if things are happening online and it’s creating anxiety or concern, that can be a factor in children not attending school.
“Additionally, if you are online towards the evening time and something’s said or it’s mean or you’re exposed to content that’s distressing, it will impact your sleep.
“And that can kick off a bit of a cycle where you’re not sleeping well, you’re not exercising well, you’re not eating well, and it gets difficult to break that cycle and get back to healthy activities like school and connecting with friends.”
Graham was planning to gather statistics to gauge uptake of the social-media-free message in the school community.
