The audience decides. You're the audience.
KS3 · The Safeguard Hub · Press F11 for full screen, scroll for next slide
Have you ever seen something online aimed at someone in this school that went too far?
Yes or no. Fold it. Hand it in.
It follows you home. The audience is everyone. Everything is recorded.
There is no final bell.
Abusive messages. Deliberate exclusion from chats. Fake accounts. Shared and edited images. Anonymous hate. Pile-ons.
The test: if only one side is laughing, it is not banter.
Comment number fifty hurts exactly as much as comment number one.
"I was just joining in" is how everyone in a pile-on describes it. The person on the receiving end describes it differently.
Anonymous apps log accounts, devices and networks. Persistent abusers get traced.
Bad news if you're sending it. Good news if you're receiving it: something can be done.
Threats. Campaigns of harassment. Sharing intimate images without consent, including AI-faked ones of classmates.
These are not "just online". They can be crimes.
Don't retaliate. Your reply becomes the story. Save the evidence. Screenshot first.
Block and report. Tell an adult, and keep telling until something changes.
Step 1: don't like, don't share, don't laugh. Step 2: message the target privately. "You alright? That's out of order."
Step 3: screenshot and report. Step 4: tell an adult. Even step 1, done by enough people, kills a pile-on.
People remember one kind private message for years.
You can be that message.
Childline 0800 1111. reportharmfulcontent.com when platforms won't act. Report Remove for private images.
And any trusted adult in school. Early telling ends most cases.
Write one line you could send privately to someone being piled on.
Some of these lines will get sent this week. Maybe yours.