Surrey Police Back to School Safety Advice

Following a long and hot summer, most children are going back to school this week. With this in mind, Surrey Police thought it would be a good opportunity for them to share with you some top safety tips for your loved one’s return to the classroom.

Quick Tips:

• If you can, teach your child one emergency contact number and also write it down and put in their school bag.
• Children should be taught basic road safety such as always walking on the pavement away from the kerb and only crossing at safe places like zebra crossings.
• If your child gets lost or approached by a stranger on their way home from school, they should always try to go back to school or to a nearby shop and ask to speak to a staff member.
• When sharing a child’s first day of school on social media, make sure to not share too much detail. Information such as full names, nicknames, school names, teacher names and personal home information, should be strictly avoided. These details could be used by someone with negative motivations to trick your child.

For children at secondary school, Surrey Police have included some more age-specific safety advice below:

• Keep personal data safe online by activating 2-factor authentication across all messaging accounts, emails and gaming channels.
• A reminder that screenshots can now make any ‘temporary’ photo or message permanent and shareable. If they are worried about any explicit images of themselves on the internet, ‘Report Remove‘ from Childline can help them confidentially report any images for removal.
• If a young person is worried about a potential crime taking place within their social group or at school, but they don’t want to call us directly, they can report completely anonymously to Fearless.

Surrey Police hope this quick summary has been useful and wish everyone a safe return to school.