Hawick High School’s News team shares their tootoot story.   Bullying. This issue has been tackled many times but continues to remain a worry for many school children and young adults. Events such as anti-bullying month between the 2nd and 27th of November aim to raise awareness of the problem and provide people with the […]

Derby City Council has launched tootoot to 11 schools across the city. This safeguarding platform is being used in primary schools and secondary schools, allowing students to safely report any worries and incidents such as bullying, cyber bullying, racism, extremism, radicalisation, and mental health issues directly to their place of learning.

Sometimes students are too scared or simply aren’t confident enough to speak to someone face-to-face about their concerns, for fear of being identified and making matters worse. With tootoot, students are able to safely and anonymously tell their school about their concerns and worries, as a first step to resolving them.

The Broadland tootoot launch from one of our young commissioners, Jordana

“On Wednesday 16th March I was lucky enough to attend the tootoot launch in Broadland at Acle Academy. During this launch I spoke to the local press and radio station (BBC Radio Norfolk). I also had some pictures taken with some of the prefects who had a good understanding of tootoot and how to use it so they can help some of the younger students. Us young commissioners like tootoot because it is anonymous and easy to use. tootoot will help young people in Broadland because they will no longer feel worried about having to speak to someone face to face while telling them about the problems which they face with bullying, as they can message someone through tootoot which is a much easier thing to do physically and mentally.” – Jordana, Young Commissioner.

Being a mum of 2 boys, aged, 9 and 14 years old, I am very aware of the challenges we all face with our children being online. I have discussions with my 9 year, as why he can’t have Facebook and Instagram, just because his friends do, why can’t he? My 14-year-old won’t listen to a word a say as in his eyes, I am a complete weirdo and know nothing about social media/networking. I hope all of this sounds familiar to you and I am not alone in these battles.

It does amaze me that some parents allow their children on social networking sites and ignore the recommended age restrictions. My 9 year old has already tried to pass my family sharing on the IOS (Apple) and download apps that he shouldn’t, but I want to protect him so we have a rule that I am allowed to spot check his device at anytime. The last I checked, he had downloaded Instagram, created an account and posted photos of himself pouting. It was deleted very quickly. I totally agree that our children should be allowed to explore and grow, but at the same time we do need to protect and guide in the same way as we teach our youngsters to cross the road.

I’m Michael Brennan, the founder of tootoot. Today I thought I’d do something a little different with the blog. My team asked me 5 questions and I thought I would share my answers with you. What drives me to help students with tootoot? Throughout both Primary school and secondary school, I was bullied heavily as […]