Moving on up! 10-12s

A resource for 10-12 year olds, helping young people with the online aspects of moving to secondary school.

A lot of work goes into helping young people make a smooth transition from primary to secondary education. We have created these videos and accompanying resources to help with the online aspects of this move.

The videos cover issues like wanting a first phone, group chats, and handling friend and follower requests.

Social media and under 13s

This resource focuses on helping young people aged 10-13 when moving from primary to secondary education, in the UK this usually happens at the age of 11. This is also a time when many young people will receive their first phone and start to use apps, including social media, to keep in touch with old friends and make new ones, even when they do not meet the age requirements. Most social media and messaging apps have a minimum user age of 13, and we recommend to parents, carers and young people that they wait until they reach this age.

Whilst we do encourage young people to wait, we are aware that there will be learners who are already active on these platforms, and this is why they are discussed in this resource. For those learners who are not using social media yet, the activities will be helpful if they choose to do so later.

Teachers and educators, if you believe that some of your learners are using social media before they are 13, you should follow the procedures of your school or setting in this situation.