Online safety is a hot topic across Mid Canterbury this week ahead of a visit by film maker, Rob Cope and his public talk on understanding kids’ online world — and how to keep them safe.

The district’s three high schools; Mount Hutt College, Ashburton Christian School and Ashburton College have processes in place for managing student cyber safety.

Ashburton Christian School principal Simon Bisseker said the approach had broadened from “simply managing online risks to helping young people navigate risks as well.”

He said while safeguards and filtering remained important, they were focusing increasingly on developing the judgment, values and personal responsibility that technology alone could never provide. 

"Online safety begins long before a child opens a device. It begins with the formation of character, strong relationships, and a home environment where children feel safe to ask questions and speak openly about what they encounter.”

"Ultimately no filter can replace wisdom,” he said.

Mount Hutt College deputy principal Carolyn Fordyce agreed and said her school had a multi-pronged approach to online safety, from restricting phones, to online safety education and bolstering life skills. 

She said students were misusing phones at school, “primarily in ways that hurt themselves and others”,  so the school reacted by introducing phone restrictions prior to the government ruling in 2024. 

"The ‘phones away for the day’ has reclassified that these devices are provided by parents and should be monitored and managed by parents.”

Ashburton College assistant principal Abbey Bruce said parents needed to play an active part in their children's online safety. 

"It is not just up to the parents, and it is not just up to the schools, we are all involved.” 

Bruce said online resources like www.netsafe.org.nz offered parents excellent tips and tricks about safety online. 

"It is through this site parents can report also any online issues they may be having,” she said. 

Bisseker said parents have a part to play in online safety but understands that can be met with resistance from their child. 

"One of the tensions for families is that digital communication has become the default social environment for many young people.”

"This can make it difficult for parents who are trying to establish thoughtful boundaries around device use, without making their children feel excluded from peer relationships.”

It is those online peer relationships that can cause issues, Fordyce said.  

“Rangatahi, young people, of all ages use groups to exclude others, bolstering their own sense of inclusion by deriding outsiders to the approval of their clan and this adds to the growth in anxiety around acceptance and identity.”

Fordyce said different age and year groups dictate differing information subjects and delivery methods.

“Those in the age range of 11-13 years old seem to be extra vulnerable to making a regrettable image sharing choice that will be online forever.”

"Older youths seem to seek five minutes of fame, influenced by fads. They post and share their moment of glory forgetting that their online handles don't disguise their faces.”

Fordyce said the education and empowerment part of the her school’s approach to the issue was covered by the school allocating three or four hours a week to  their  Manaaki Stars programme.

It included a focus on learning skills around self awareness, how to be an active community member and life skills. 

“All year levels spend time learning about all aspects of our digital world.” 

Bisseker said one challenges of online safety was that children were being confronted with social, moral and emotional issues at younger and younger ages.

“The issue isn't simply exposure to technology, but whether children's maturity, resilience and judgements are developing quickly enough to process what they're encountering.”

 

- The Ultimate Parents’ Guide to understanding our kids’ online world with Rob Cope is on at the Mount Hutt Memorial Hall on Monday, 6pm to 8pm. Tickets at eventfinda.co.nz and cost $10 per whānau. R18 event.