Survey finds cyberbullying and sexting rates among 11-16 year-olds high in Flintshire

A social media survey has revealed the proportion of high school pupils in Flintshire who have sent sexually explicit images of themselves remains above the national average.

A survey of 11-16 year-olds found that almost 9% of students admitted to sending sexual images of themselves to another person – the Welsh average is just over 8%.

While Flintshire’s figure remains high in comparison to the rest of the country it does represent a fall of over 1% on the previous survey.

The School Health Research Network (SHRN) study also revealed a higher rate of cyberbullying in the authority compared to Welsh average, with 16.6% of pupils admitting to carrying out cyberbullying and 22.6% of students reporting being victims of online abuse.

In total 7,349 students from all 11 Flintshire secondary schools took part in the survey.

The findings are part of a broader online safeguarding report that Flintshire Councillors will review on Thursday in the Joint Education Youth and Culture and Social and Healthcare Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

The most recent study – from which this data was taken – was in 2023. Studies take place every two years and the next one will begin gathering data in September.

To help tackle the risks of social media, all schools have committed to implementing 360SafeCymru, a tool designed to help them assess and improve their online safety policies, practices, and provisions. All 78 primary and secondary schools in Flintshire are now using the tool to work towards the National Online Safety Mark to demonstrate their commitment to protecting students online.

Later this week councillors will review the report and other data detailing how young people are using social media and online platforms and how effective Flintshire’s safeguarding policies are.

These policies include the Secondary Designated Safeguarding Persons programme – which ensures there is one named individual at each high school who takes the lead responsibility for child protection issues and cases. Secondary DSPs meet quarterly to share challenges, best practise and update council officers on key issues.

All Flintshire schools must also produce an annual safeguarding report to show what training has been delivered to staff, what reviews of safeguarding practises and risks has been conducted and to ensure full DBS compliance.

According to the report there remain some inconsistencies across the county, particularly with regard to safeguarding training for school governors.

Councillors will need to decide whether what is being done to protect Flintshire’s school pupils online is effective or whether schools need more tools and investment to support students.

By Alec Doyle – Local Democracy Reporter

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