As a school we are becoming increasingly concerned about the sleep patterns of some of our students and quite often this is linked to late night access to 'screentime' either through mobile devices or tablets. Several parents of Year 11 students have reported that their children are experiencing difficulties in maintaining concentration through periods of revision due to the distraction from social media messages which often come through such devices.

 

With this in mind we wanted to draw your attention to some of the parental control apps currently on the market for parents which are designed to help them control their child's access to social media use on their phones/tablet. You can download the app on your phone and load the app on your child's phone/tablet. You can then control when and for how long you would like your child to be able to access social media. The app cannot be altered or deleted from your child's phone without your permission. This is a great way to help deter any negative interactions your child may have on social media, whilst also setting appropriate times that they can access them during the day. Three of the most popular apps are:

 

'Screen Time' - https://screentimelabs.com/

'OurPact' - http://ourpact.com/

'Kidslox' - https://kidslox.com/

 

All apps can be downloaded via the apps store.