Primary school resources

Our research sees around 6% of 9-10-year-olds experiencing online bullying, abuse or trolling from people they know or don’t know. But research also shows that bullying behaviours have some of the biggest impacts on children.

Often, bullying from people they know also starts or continues at school. This makes it an issue that’s difficult to escape.

Lessons to teach about positive behaviours:

• Introduction to Cyberbullying: Help children become upstanders even when bullying happens between friends.*
• Is It Funny or Is It Hate?: Explore online hate and how children can report bullying behaviours from people they don’t know.*
• Introduction to Healthy Behaviours Online: Help children understand what positive and negative behaviours look like to stay safe.*
• Tackling Online Hate: Teach children the ins and outs of online hate and how to deal with it if it happens.
• Breaking Down Gender Stereotypes: Explore how harmful stereotypes can lead to bullying and how children can spread positivity online.

*You must sign in to or register with Digital Matters to access lesson materials.

Around 1 in 8 children aged 9-10 say they have come across mis/disinformation online. This doesn’t account for children who have come across false information without knowing. Believing fake or misleading information can lead children to participating in or sharing harmful trends.

Lessons to promote critical thinking:

• Introduction to Critical Thinking: Help children understand the difference between fact and opinion to think before they share.*
• Thinking About Online Challenges: Teach children the importance of thinking below the surface before participating in harmful trends.
• Fact-Checking AI (download): Explore the skills needed to navigate content potentially generated by AI.

*You must sign in to or register with Digital Matters to access lesson materials.

We asked 216 children aged 9-10 about the issues they’ve experienced online. The findings included:

• Violent content or content which promotes violence: 6%
• Content from radical or extremist groups: 1%
• Content promoting unrealistic body images or altered bodies: 9%
• Content featuring animal abuse: 6%
• Content which promotes dangerous stunts or challenges: 15%

If parents/carers do not use parental controls or enforce screen time limits, the likelihood of children coming across inappropriate content increases.

Resources to encourage parents to take action:

• Step-by-step parental controls guides
• ABC online safety checklist
• Online issues guides

Research shows that a significant numbers of 9-10-year-olds use platforms which require a minimum age of 13. These include:

• WhatsApp (34%)
• TikTok (23%)
• Snapchat (14%)
• Instagram (8%)

To use these platforms, they must login either using their parent’s account or by lying about the their age. In both cases, they miss out on important safety features automatically given to teens.

Children also experience other security issues such as strangers contacting them (13%) and being asked for/giving away personal information (6%).

Resources to support children and parents:

• Introduction to Protecting Personal Information: Teach children about what ‘personal information’ means and how to keep it safe.*
• How can I keep my child’s online accounts safe?: Share this guide with parents to help them set up online accounts securely.

*You must sign in to or register with Digital Matters to access lesson materials.

Nearly 40% of children aged 9-10 say they feel like they spend too much time online. Unfortunately, while many children recognise this issue, they don’t often have the skills to counter it.

It’s important to foster a balanced digital diet when it comes to screen time. The following resources can help you support children and their parents:

• Introduction to Balancing Screen Time: Help children understand the meaning of ‘balance’ and how to get support for their wellbeing.*
• Guide to balancing screen time: Share this guide with parents to help them develop good balance and screen time habits with children.
• Screen time advice hub: For more in-depth advice, share this link with parents to help them better understand screen time.

*You must sign in to or register with Digital Matters to access lesson materials.