School issues warning to parents over website

A SCHOOL has warned parents to be aware of a website that allows children to make contact with strangers.

The Pingle School, in Coronation Street, Swadlincote, alerted parents to the danger of omegle.com over the weekend to ward off any potential problems.

A text message sent to parents read: “Please be aware of the website omegle.com where young people are invited to chat to strangers.

“Safeguard your children by ensuring they do not use this site.” Pingle business manager Martin Walton revealed that the school sent out the text to warn parents after concerns were raised about the website.

He said: “We can confirm we did send out the text to parents after issues about the website were highlighted to staff.

“It allows children to speak to and potentially arrange to meet strangers which is something that we do not want to happen.

“We ask parents to monitor their children on the computer as we do here and also to report any potential problems or erroneous websites. We have a duty of care to the children and a major concern is their safeguarding.”

Mr Walton said that the issue of keeping children safe while they use the internet was a priority at the school.

He added: “The issue of safeguarding children is a massive one and was recently discussed at a school governors meeting. In the coming weeks, staff will be attending a training session, a refresher course, so they are aware of how to best keep children safe when they are using computers.

“This course will teach them to spot potential problems arising, so they can be nipped in the bud before they grow into a major threat.”

The website, called Omegle — Talk to Strangers, states that it is a ‘great way of meeting new friends’.

The site offers the chance for people to interact via text or video and it picks another user at random and lets people have a one-on-one chat with each other.

Chats are described as ‘completely anonymous’, although a statement on the site reveals that ‘there is nothing to stop you from revealing personal details if you would like’.