Ingoldsby Academy Update November 2024

SAFEguarding spotlight

A parent has shared this communication regarding new parental controls and insights coming soon for Roblox

Roblox accounts with parent privileges:

'Next month, we’re changing the way parents manage their child’s experience on Roblox by introducing Roblox accounts with parent privileges. After linking your account to your child’s, parents can view and update parental controls for their child all from their own device. Parents also get access to insights about their child’s Roblox usage, such as their daily screen time and on-platform friends.'

'Given these changes, starting next month, parents will no longer be able to set a parent PIN, use Account Restrictions, or receive account-related notifications to their parental email. Instead, you will need to use an account with parent privileges. Existing verified parental emails on child accounts will continue to be used for account recovery. Any settings previously set using a parent PIN will not change, but you will need an account with parent privileges to make updates going forward.'

'As always, if users are interested in an added layer of security on their account, you can set up 2-factor authentication.'

Updated content maturity settings:

'As we shared with the community in July, to help provide parents and users more clarity into the types of content available on Roblox, we’ll soon begin labelling experiences based on the type of content users can expect in an experience, rather than by age. Experience Guidelines will be renamed Content Labels, and you’ll be able to set limits on the type of content accessible to your child through the content maturity setting in parental controls.'

New default settings for users under the age of 13:

'As part of Roblox’s commitment to safety, we are also updating certain default settings for our youngest users. Starting next month, users under the age of 13 will need parent permission to access certain chat features. Users under the age of 9 will also need parent permission to access experiences with content maturity “Moderate,” which may contain things like moderate violence or moderate crude humour.'

'Your child’s settings will be updated when they reach certain ages, if you and your child haven’t previously made changes to them. You and your child will be notified of these updates in advance.'

Many of you have approached me about sleep and struggles with sleep routines, especially where there are signs of neurodiversity.

Quality sleep is essential for children’s growth and development. A decent night’s sleep will help them to do better at school, allow them to react more quickly to situations, have a more developed memory, learn more effectively and solve problems, plus it will make them less susceptible to colds and other minor ailments, less irritable and better behaved!

Sleep - a guide for school aged children from the nhs:

How many hours does your child need? Age Hours of sleep

Pre-school (3 - 5years) 11 - 13

Age 5 - 9 10 - 11 hours

Age 10 - 14 9 - 9.75 hours

Age 15 – 17 8.5 - 8.75 hours

Adults 7 – 9 hours (Information from National Sleep Foundation and NHS Choices)

Promoting sleep

Exercise and activity:

Exercise during the day is important to help us sleep but discourage lots of activity right before bedtime.

Exercise affects our body temperature and the best time to exercise to promote sleep is 4 - 6 hours before sleep.

Diet:

A healthy balanced diet promotes good sleep. A large meal too close to bedtime will interfere with sleep.

If your child has a snack before bed, carbohydrates such as bread or cereal are good options.

Monitor your child’s sleep to consider how different foods may be affecting their sleep.

Environment:

Create a good sleeping environment for your child. Their bedroom should be calm dark, quiet and cool. A night-light may help children feel safer.

Do not allow your child to watch TV or play computer games whilst falling asleep.

These activities stimulate children and therefore do not promote sleep.

Reward:

Give your child lots of praise for accomplishing even small things as they develop better sleep habits.

Bedtime routine

Establishing a bedtime routine is crucial in supporting your child to sleep well. Here are some hints on creating a good bedtime routine.

Decide on a bed time and stick to it. Weekends and holidays may have more flexibility.

Don’t extend the routine or make exceptions. Make sure that this routine is the same every night and praise your child for completing the tasks.

It may be helpful to have the routine written down or in picture format to help guide your child.

A bath 30 minutes before bed can help to promote sleep.

Avoid activities that make your child excited (playing active games, watching TV, computer games etc.)

Begin bedtime routine at least half an hour before bed time. Some children take longer to wind down than others so give plenty time. Bedtime routine may take longer for children who have ADHD.

✓ Give a “heads up” that the routine is about to begin 30 minutes before the start of the routine.

✓ Give countdown reminders as required. This will make it easier for your child to begin the routine rather than if they are abruptly interrupted in the middle of an activity.

✓ Build a bedtime routine of 4 to 5 activities. Activities should be things that prepare your child for bed e.g. brush teeth, put pyjamas on.

✓ As a reward for completing the routine, whatever time is left before the set bedtime is time for the two of you to have 1:1 time. This may be reading a story together or talking.

✓ Tell your child it's time for sleep and say goodnight.

✓ It can be helpful to have the same phrase used every night to act as a cue for the expected behaviour.

But what if ……….

My child frequently wakens during the night?

Night time waking is normal as a temporary stage. If this problem persists talk to your doctor.

• Don’t go into the child’s room unless you must, for example if they are really upset.

• Assume that the child has to go to the bathroom and steer them that way. Be gentle and quiet. Try not to put any lights on as they wake us up.

• Do not talk to them as engaging tor show emotion as engaging them in conversation will waken them more.

• If your child wakes from a nightmare then provide reassurance to help settle them back to sleep but do not engage in conversation

My child keeps getting out of bed?

Children will create reasons for having to get out of bed. Usually this is because they are either scared, bored or both.

If a child gets out of bed, the longer they stay up and the further away they get from their bedroom, the more reinforcement they will get from this behaviour therefore it is important to stop them as soon as possible and do not talk or show any emotion.

• Ensure that bedtime routine covers reasons for getting up like being hungry or thirsty.

• If your child has difficulty falling asleep without you, sit in a chair in the room and gradually move further away until you are outside of the room.

• Consider the use of reward charts for staying in bed but remember that there is a long delay in this reward as it would be used the next morning and therefore is likely to be more effective with older children.

03303 530 541

Speak to trained sleep advisors

Available Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays 7pm-9pm, Mondays, Wednesdays 9 -11am