Roblox – keeping children safe whilst playing

Dear parent/carer,
Having just watched this week's edition of 'Newsround', there was a section on 'Roblox: More children say they've seen worrying content or suffered abuse'. Use the link here to take you to the news article https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/63357995

Robox is very popular with children aged 6-13 and known to be used by children at Wrenbury. It appears to be a very child-friendly platform but as it is a platform that anyone can upload to and there also being 'chat', many children have been experiencing the following:
-cyberbullying including losing money to strangers; being asked for their personal information or threatened with 'I know where you live'; 'I know which school you go to'
-being shown inappropriate images or being asked to share inappropriate photos

During a recorded visit to a school assembly and asked about the above, a large proportion of the children put their hands up to say they had experienced such incidences.

We want to keep our children at Wrenbury safe. Whilst we have online safety lessons at school, we cannot supervise the children's online activity at home and need your help. The following link is to the Roblox 'Is Roblox safe for kids?' page. Please do read the content to ensure you are aware of how you can put in controls on Roblox to safeguard your child. Also, show the children the 'report' button on Roblox so that they can report anything that they find inappropriate or upsetting.

https://www.parents.com/kids/safety/internet/is-roblox-safe-for-kids/#:~:text=User%2Dgenerated%20games%20could%20expose,graphic%20images%2C%20and%20inappropriate%20language.

Further to this, we will be offering a parent meeting this half term to give some advice on keeping children safe online. This will be led by a parent with expertise, through their job, in this area. Keeping up-to-date and having an informal forum to ask questions helps us all feel better informed and equipped to ensure our children are navigating the benefits of the online world safely. We very much hope this will be well attended.

Best wishes,
Bessa Cador