EPISODE NOTES In this episode, Claire talks with Caroline Allams: founder of Natterhub, a gated, child-orientated social-media platform where children can interact safely while learning about online safety. Caroline talks about how she always knew that she wanted to be a teacher recalling how, as a child, she enjoyed ‘bossing people around in the garden with a whistle’. Having always enjoyed going to school and feeling as though there was something ‘magical’ about teachers, she felt that going into education herself was a natural step. Caroline also talks about how her brother’s chronic ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) made her mother feel like a failing parent. As a teacher, this drove Caroline to vow to herself that no parent or child in her class would feel that way about themselves. Along with this, Caroline’s experiences in international schools – both as a child and, later, as a teacher – helped give her broader and more diverse perspectives on the world. Caroline discusses how, during the initial coronavirus lockdown, ‘Natterhub’ was created to enable children to communicate and interact in a way that would seem familiar to those children who were already aware of social media, but in a safer and more secure environment. While still incorporating this primary functionality, Natterhub has since expanded offering interactive and educational content to enable children to learn more about the benefits and risks associated with social media and the wider online world.   KEY TAKEAWAYS The importance of children learning about online safety. Technology, the internet and its accessibility has grown exponentially over the last few decades and children are rarely fully equipped and ready for the wider world they can access. It is, therefore, vital that children learn about the benefits and the risks of this incredible resource in an age-appropriate way. Children can pick up so much very quickly but can appear more aware and competent than they might actually be. Without putting some education in place beforehand, it is like hoping that a child will know how to cross a road safely without being taught about the dangers. Look to build digital resilience and digital empathy. Teaching children about these two areas is key to keeping children safe online. Digital empathy is being aware of how your actions will or could impact others. Digital resilience is knowing what challenges might need to be faced online and having an awareness of how to handle these. Coupled together, through knowing how to interact appropriately with others, and being able to confidently deal with inevitable bumps in the road that will occur, children can have a better and more healthy experience online. Understanding what digital literacy is. It is not uncommon to underestimate just how much is covered by the term ‘digital literacy’. Beyond the basic awareness of not disclosing passwords or personal information, digital literacy can encompass many other areas such as the ability to analyse articles for bias, misleading content, images, and also an understanding of how or when to behave a certain way as something like the wrong emoji at the wrong time in a group-chat could cause wildly unexpected consequences.   BEST MOMENTS “I always loved having the opportunity to create moments for my children, for them to really love coming to school. I quickly realised that learning through ‘doing’ rather than learning through hearing about it was definitely the direction that it was going to take with my teaching style.” “Building that digital resilience and promoting digital empathy are two key magic ingredients for keeping children safe online.” “I think what's great about growing up now and about social media is this ability for children to find other people. Whether it's through Minecraft, whether it's t