Info night for parents on teenage online activity

ST Mary’s Secondary School, Macroom will be hosting a presentation on teenage online activity on Monday, January 23, at 7pm, as part of their dedicated Mental Health and Wellbeing Week.

The talk, entitled, ‘Social Media: Challenges for parents’, will be delivered by Dr Sinead Devine. Topics including social networking sites, social messaging/chatting apps, dating sites, video-streaming sites, mobile device safety, sexting and cyber-bullying will all be addressed.

Dr Sinead Devine is a Forensic Psychologist who works with the well known advocate of online safety, Dr Maureen Griffin of MGMS Training. Maureen and her team speak regularly to groups of students, parents, teachers and Boards of Management in schools on the topic of online safety.

The organisation also provides training for the HSE, An Garda Síocána and the legal profession. In addition, the group is involved in policy formation on child protection.

The presentation will give an overview of what is currently popular among students, potential dangers as well as practical advice on how to protect children when they are online or using mobile devices.

The talk is not about how to block students from online activity but rather how to teach them to be responsible when online.

The school would like to issue an invitation to all parents and guardians of young people in the area to the presentation on this very important topic on Monday, January 23, at 7pm in the school.