What can be done?

Digital monitoring acts as an extra pair of eyes and ears for school staff, finding and alerting them to children at risk – children who may otherwise go unnoticed.

Monitoring technology, working alongside human moderators, flags children at risk of harm suggested by their online activities, search behavior or use of apps – even whilst offline.

Serious risks, such as cybersexual activity; bullying; mental health issues; substance abuse; gang activity; exploitation and abuse; self-harm, grooming and radicalization can be picked up in real-time if a student has used their keyboard to view content, message someone, look for information, type out their feelings – even if they delete it immediately, or never press ‘send’.

Human moderators separate genuine risk from false positives enabling school’s to respond quickly and appropriately. The quicker the intervention the better the outcome. In 2019 Smoothwall Monitor found a student facing a serious risk to their health or life every 3 minutes. That’s 5009 children who could otherwise have been overlooked.

With new threats emerging during this uncertain time and students facing all kinds of added stress factors, digital monitoring technology is becoming a crucial part of a school’s digital safety strategy. It’s no exaggeration to say that the safety and even lives of students could depend on it.

Further reading

For further reading on digital monitoring, download our whitepaper.

Book a walk-through

You can also book an online walk-through of Smoothwall Monitor. Simply decide a date and time of your choosing, invite any colleagues along too and a Smoothwall expert will explain how it works, how other schools are using it and answer any questions you might have.