HeadStart Kernow Digital Resilience Tools for Parents

The Headstart Kernow Online Resilience Toolkit provides a practical way to assess young people’s online behaviour and help make decisions about whether that behaviour is a cause for concern.

We are delighted to present a suite of accessible resources and podcasts to support you in building online resilience for your children. We understand that you are at the forefront of this challenge and may often feel you are missing the information and/or confidence to understand and discuss this issue with your children.

Our goal is to help you understand the challenges of the online world, frame your child's behaviour in an age-appropriate manner, and empower you to initiate meaningful conversations with confidence.

We’ve also created a range of resources aimed at professionals who work with children and young people, which you can see by clicking on the button below. The content is very similar, but there are additional resources, like lesson plans and more podcasts. We’ve also used slightly different language to describe behaviours, for example we say, ‘potentially harmful’ instead of ‘find out more’. This reflects the language professionals use when discussing safeguarding, which can be a bit worrying if you’re not used to it and is why we changed the language in the parent’s tools. However, you may find it useful if you want to know more about a particular theme, such as gaming or social media.

Digital Resilience Resources

A PDF Resource and Podcast for each age group can be found below.

SEND Digital Resilience Guidance

We’ve created specific guidance aimed at people supporting young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. You can access it here. 

Our goal with this guidance is to help adults who support young people with SEND use language that is clear, unambiguous, relevant and consistent when discussing the online world.

We therefore recommend sharing the resource with everyone who is involved in supporting a young person with SEND as this will be the most effective way to ensure the message is consistent.

Was That Ok

We’ve created a tool for young people to help them answer the question ‘Was That Ok?’ when something has happened to them, whether online or offline and they aren’t sure whether it was ok or not. Find out more here.

People to contact for support

There are lots of people and organisations out there to help you navigate the potential issues you might face with your child and the digital world. Depending on where you are, there may also be local organisations which can offer support. A good place to find out about this is your local council’s website.

We recommend talking to your child’s nursery / school / college as a first port of call as they are likely to be aware of issues related to the digital world and can advise on what support is available. Ideally, we’d recommend talking to your child and asking them who is best for you to talk to. You can always ask to speak to the school’s designated safeguarding lead or pastoral lead.

If you are based in Cornwall and you have immediate safeguarding concerns about a child or young person’s safety, you can access support from the Multi-Agency Referral Unit (MARU).

If you want to know what support might be available for a child or family you can contact the Early Help Hub.

The Family Information Service have a list of all support services. You can access it here.

You can also see information and advice for parents or professionals to help improve the social, emotional, mental health and wellbeing of children and young people in Cornwall on the Headstart website.

Nationally, there are several organisations who offer support around young people and the digital world:

• The NSPCC offers support and advice on a range of issues including online grooming.

• The Marie Collins Foundation offers support for people who have been victims of Technology Assisted Sexual Abuse.

• Shore Space offer support for people who are concerned about feeling or wanting to harm others.

• The Internet Watch Foundation monitor and remove child sex abuse material online.

• South West Grid for Learning offer support and advice on a range of issues linked to online safety.

• YGAM offer support for young people who are experiencing addiction to gaming or gambling.