Yr6 class WhatsApp groups

[Sunflowersinthewind]

My DS has just got a phone in preparation for moving to secondary school

My question is do you allow your Yr6 child to join any class WhatsApp groups?

YABU - yes
YANBU - no

Yes. But only class groups/smaller friendship groups where they know everyone in the group.

And that we talk about their phone usage and I reserve the right to check their phone at any time.

Yes, it really is mostly pictures of their pets. I do however talk a lot about tone and how it can be lost in text so they need to be very careful about what they write. I also say whatever you send you can't take it back. So be very careful with what you write.

Many people do.
Mine didn't until yr7
PLEASE keep a very close eye on it if you do. My Dd is yr 8 now and I still keep a watch over it. It can go badly wrong so fast.
I’ve dealt with fall out from class WhatsApp with my kids at school where I work. You’d be shocked (or maybe not) at what kind of stuff can go on there.

Yes but only if I was able to read it on a daily basis. Mine are late teens now but Y6 WhatsApp groups were the worst - I learnt very quickly who the biggest bitches in the class were 🙄

Oh god this takes me back. Y6 WhatsApp is an incessant stream of kicking people out, adding them back in, sub groups, sub sub groups, mums wading in, it’s… an experience

Yes - but you need access to the phone at any point you ask them for it.
Have school done a good job with Internet safety. Are you confident they'll come to you if anything nasty kicks off?

BTW they're more likely to be on Snapchat!

I did, to get the teething troubles talked about above out of the way whilst I still knew the children/ parents and could intervene if necessary before a change of school in Y7.

Yes, my year 6 child now has a phone and WhatsApp and honestly I wish I'd never allowed it. It's a right pain in the arse trying to keep up with who's fallen out with who and I've already blocked one child for being a nasty little bully.

It's just another screen to try and keep them off.

Dts did in y 6. Class WhatsApp groups are banned in their secondary because the bullying was rife.

The school are pretty good on internet safety etc.

Part of me thinks oh god no, because of all the drama and the risk someone will be unkind to him and then that's added school anxiety. I hear about the playground drama already!

But, I don't want him to feel left out

Definitely going to be clear on being able to read it at any given time if I say yes he can. He is quite rules driven and honest so I am not worried about that

I compromised and she is allowed 1:1 and very small group chats. Bullying is rife and the ones in the groups seem to have constant drama. She is actually glad I said no and knows to just blame me being an overprotective mother! If you do allow it monitor closely and don't expect school to deal with online issues.

Yes we allowed it (it's mainly Snapchat) and it's been a minefield. She has had to delete/block a few because whereas at school these children may be "mean", get behind a screen and they're downright horrible bullies. And I never knew there could be such bad language come from 10 year old girls mouths!!!

She knows I am allowed to and will check and read messages. And if she does anything I deem inappropriate then her phone can be taken away.

She is mainly on 1:1 chats now, or small groups of who we/she seems "nice close friends"

She knows she can only speak to people she knows in real life, no adding random people/strangers. And if there is anything she doesn't like then she should tell me, block and delete them.

No it is completely banned. It was stressing DD out. At first she was upset when I took it away but now she never mentions it and is seems happier.

I have with older DC who had phones but they need constant monitoring which is a bit time consuming. It's all silly emojis and pictures of animals - until it isn't. Long story short Y6 DS does not yet have a phone & I'm leaving it as long as possible. He's not bothered and currently agrees he's not really missing out not being in the WhatsApp. He's got one group (on my phone) where they arrange to do gaming together and chats to another friend on video calls via my iPad. Once you open Pandora's box the vigilance is hard work!

All internet safety lessons go out the window when it comes to whatsapp groups and year 6 children. The majority of behaviour issues in Y6 at my school stem from something that happened on whatsapp. I'm a teacher and used to be in Y6.

And it really is crucial that parents act as if there has been NO internet safety work in schools - because it's their child and they need to monitor constantly ALL access their child has to the internet and social media.

If parents aren't prepared to do that, they should either not allow their child such access or accept that unpleasantness is very likely to happen.

Don’t rely on ‘internet safety’ knowledge.
As with most things your average 10 year old knows very clearly what they should and should not do.
It’s all forgotten when they’re actually on the device.