Good evening parents and carers, over the last week or so it has come to light that children from different year groups across school are talking about or playing a game on the playground called 'red light, green light'. For those of you who are not aware, this game is part of a series on Netflix called 'Squid Game'. Even though it sounds like a child's game, Squid Game is rated 15 and therefore is not appropriate for primary aged children to watch due to 'sexual and violence references, injury detail, crude humour, sex and suicide references plus sexual images and violent images'.
Squid Game has now become one of the latest videos on 'Tik Tok' for children aged 13 and over. TikTok is where users video themselves for a short period of time and upload their videos for people to like. Many TikTok videos can include explicit language.
We are also aware that versions of Squid Game are available on Roblox, Minecraft and Fortnite, so although children may not have watched the programme, they can still be exposed to the same graphic themes via these platforms.
This is a polite reminder for ALL parents that you have responsibility over what social media sites your children are accessing, and your role as responsible adults is to keep them safe online.
We want to alert you to this current trend so that you can be extra vigilant with your child's use of social media and activity online. We regularly teach the children in school how to keep safe online but you may also wish to talk to your child about how to keep safe online at home too. We will be speaking further to the children in KS2 about age restrictions and the dangers of viewing material that is not suitable.
Here are some helpful links for parents about Squid Game and how to change Netflix settings:
https://nationalonlinesafety.com/wakeupwednesday/squid-game-trending-across-platforms-what-parents-need-to-know
https://oursaferschools.co.uk/2021/10/08/squid-game/
More information will shortly be added to our online safety section on our website too where you will also find online safety guides for a variety of apps and games that your children might play.
We really appreciate your support in safeguarding your children when accessing social media, apps, games and television programmes. Yours Sincerely, Mrs Ham
