The BBC recently reported a 77% rise in the number of children needing specialist treatment for severe mental health issues*, with around 409,347 under-18s being referred to the NHS in England for specialist care between April and October 2021 for issues such as suicidal thoughts and self-harm.
While only those with the most severe mental health problems are being referred for specialist care, schools are reporting a surge in mental health problems below this high threshold, with pupils needing extra support such as counselling.
With a constant bombardment of negative news stories, and social media commentary that can skew issues, many schools are looking at ways to bolster the security around their IT solutions to filter and manage the content that students have access to.
Over the last few years, our cyber security product offering has seen a significant uptake, especially in the education market, with dedicated solutions from Securly designed to help protect students, teachers and school IT infrastructure.
With their focus on student wellbeing, they have pioneered the use of artificial intelligence to deliver safeguarding solutions that monitor student social media, email and documents. This AI is supplemented with a human safeguarding team, who are there to help schools identify risk 24/7. Ultimately, the aim is to put student welfare at the top of the agenda.
If you have customers in the education sector and are looking to enhance your overall IT offering, why not speak to one of our advisors?