Fairmont Rated In Top 10 Schools In South Africa Based On Mathematics Results

It is a very proud moment for us to announce that Fairmont has been rated as one of the top 10 public schools in South Africa by being honoured by the Department of Basic Education at a gala function in Pretoria this past

Cyberbullying

Friday, 20 May 2011 09:10

Cyberbullying refers to bullying through information and communication technologies, mediums such as mobile phone text messages, emails, phone calls, internet chat rooms, instant messaging – and the latest trend – social networking websites such as MySpace, Facebook and Bebo. Cyberbullying is a fast growing trend that experts believe is more harmful than typical schoolyard bullying. Nearly all of us can be contacted 24/7 via the internet or our mobile phones. Victims can be reached anytime and anyplace. For many children, home is no longer a refuge from the bullies. "Children can escape threats and abuse in the classroom, only to find text messages and emails from the same tormentors when they arrive home".

No type of bullying is harmless. In some cases, it can constitute criminal behaviour. In extreme incidents, cyberbullying has led teenagers to suicide. Most victims, however, suffer shame, embarrassment, anger, depression and withdrawal. Cyberbullying is often seen as anonymous, and the nature of the internet allows it to spread quickly to hundreds and thousands of people. (www.cyberbullying.info).

Parents can do the following to protect their children from cyberbullying:

(www. stopcyberbullying.org)

Google your child
Make sure that the cyberbully isn't posting attacks online. When you get an early warning of a cyberbullying campaign, it is essential that you keep an eye on your child's screen name, nick names, full name, address, telephone and cell numbers and Web sites. You can also set up an "alert" on Google to notify you whenever anything about your child is posted online.
Block the sender
Someone who seems aggressive, or makes you uncomfortable and does not respond to verbal pleas or formal warnings should be blocked. This way, they will not be able to know when you are online or be able to contact you through instant messaging. Even if the communications are not particularly aggressive or threatening, if they are annoying, block the sender. (Most ISPs and instant messaging programs have a blocking feature to allow you to prevent the sender from getting through.)
"Warn" the sender
If the cyberbully uses another screen name to avoid the block, otherwise manages to get through or around the block or communicates through others, "warn" them, or "notify" the ISP. (This is usually a button on the IM application.) This creates a record of the incident for later review, and if the person is warned enough, they can lose their ISP or instant messenger account. (Unfortunately, many cyberbullies use "warning wars" or "notify wars" to harass their victims, by making it appear the victim is really the cyberbully. This is a method of cyberbullying by proxy, getting the ISP to be an unwitting accomplice of the cyberbullying.)
Report to ISP
Most cyberbullying and harassment incidents violate the ISP's terms of service. These are typically called a "TOS violation" (for a "terms of service" violation, and can have serious consequences for the account holder. Many ISPs will close a cyberbully's account (which will also close their parents' household account in most cases.) You should report this to the sender's ISP, not yours. (If you use a monitoring software, like Spectorsoft, this is much easier.)

If your child's account has been hacked or their password compromised, or if someone is posing as your child, you should make a formal report to your ISP as well. You can call them or send an e-mail to their security department (NOT their terms of service report line). But before changing your password, you should scan your computer for any hacking programs or spyware, such as a Trojan horse. If one is on your computer, the cyberbully may be able to access the new password. Most good anti-virus programs can find and remove a hacking program. All spyware applications can. We recommend SpyBot Search and Destroy (a freeware) or Ad-Aware (by Lavasoft, they have a free "lite" program).

The following websites will give you more information on cyberbullying: