School’s alert over violent TV show

A PRIMARY school has issued an urgent warning to parents after reports that pupils as young as eight are watching a violent Netflix show which has seemingly taken the world by storm.

Squid Game was released worldwide on the online streaming service in midSeptember and has since become the platform’s most-watched-ever series.

The show, created by South Korean director and screenwriter Hwang Dong-hyuk, involves a contest in which hundreds of players play a series of games for the chance to win huge sums of money. However, failure often comes with deadly consequences.

Richmond Park Primary School in Carmarthen has now raised concerns that children as young as those in Year 4 are either watching Squid Game, despite it having an age rating of 15+, or have downloaded and played third-party apps on their phones associated with the hit show.

The school is warning parents that the drama series has “a dark twist to seemingly innocent games”, including the depiction of characters being “violently killed off in ways that grow more twisted as the games grow more intense”.

They’ve also expressed concern that young children are watching “high levels of gore, death, violence, and physical assault”, along with “graphic depictions of suicide, murder, and sexual assault”.

A spokesman for Richmond Park school said: “Children and young people are likely to know about the show via word of mouth and because it is so popular on social media. They may be unaware of the extent of gore, death and violence the show contains. It also focuses on adult themes that are not appropriate for younger sensibilities. For young people who live with mental health issues, they may be triggered by some of the content.”

As a result, they are imploring parents to keep a close eye on what their children are watching and playing.