Ok To Ask? - Information for Teachers and Professionals
Young people told us that being asked for or sending nudes was an important issue in their lives. Asking or being asked for an image is seen as common, but our research showed that often people do not want to ask, or be asked, and most people aren’t doing it.
Teachers and other professionals who work with young people have an important role to play in helping them to navigate the pressure to ask for and send images. Surrey teaching resources for KS3, KS4 and KS5 are being produced and are expected to be available during the Spring term 2025; in the meantime, it is important to recognise that this campaign might spark some conversations.
Here are some things to consider when talking about this topic with young people:
- Set some ground rules or a group agreement to help keep everyone safe. Watch the Surrey Healthy Schools video on how to do this.
- Ensure any discussions are done in a distanced way so that it is depersonalised and everyone can feel safer as a result.
- Consider how to promote safeguarding and how to manage any disclosures, working in line with your setting’s policy and procedures.
- Recognise that young people will be at different ages and stages of development and that their awareness of topics will vary. Discussions of this nature may be more appropriate for smaller, targeted groups.
- Ensure no assumptions are made about what young people are or aren’t doing.
- Respond to questions from young people in a way that answers them simply but does not provide more detail than is necessary.
- Provide accurate and unbiased information based on data and make sure there is no glamorisation of any behaviour. Alongside this, support young people to develop the skills and language to manage more effectively peer pressure and peer influence.
- Ensure everyone is included in the conversation if they would like to be, and that language and examples reflect diversity, promote inclusion and challenge stereotypes, where appropriate.
- Offer young people means for support: in school, in the local community or elsewhere – including national support (see 12, below).
- Make explicit links to the Surrey Healthy Schools approach, the PSHE Association Programme of Study and the Department for Education statutory guidance on Relationships Education, Relationships & Sex Education and Health Education.
- Where appropriate, use the information and resources at CEOP Education to inform the development of digital literacy and safety across your educational establishment.
- Ensure young people know that help is available from trusted online sources if they need support to remove or prevent images being shared online:
- Use Report Remove, the Internet Watch Foundation and Childline’s tool, to report images that have been shared or might be shared online.
- Use Take It Down, a tool provided by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, to help them remove or stop the online sharing of images across participating online platforms.
- Report directly to the platform or app that the incident has occurred on. See Internet Matters for advice on where to report online issues on major social media platforms.
We also spoke to young people across Surrey and asked them for their views on the campaign videos and how Jess, Ryan and Jacob behaved in the situation. You can watch that conversation below.
Support Services
If someone you know is in a situation where they are under pressure to ask or send, or may have sent or shared a nude, this can be reported directly to Surrey Police.
The following services can also offer you more information and judgement-free support.
For more information and support:
Childline is a free, confidential service for anyone under 19 to talk through any issue they are going through, at any time of day or night.
STARS is a service within the Mindworks’ children and young people’s Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health Service in Surrey.
UK Safer Internet Centre is a global partnership providing support and services to children and young people, adults facing online harms, and professionals working with children.
The NSPCC is UK's leading children’s charity.
To remove an image or report:
Report Remove is a service provide by Childline helping under 18-year-olds in the UK confidentially report sexual images of themselves and remove them from the internet.
The Child Exploitation and Online Protection website allows you to report online sexual abuse or inappropriate communication.