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Digital Safeguarding in New Zealand Schools

New Zealand Schools face unprecedented challenges in ensuring the safety of students online, with significant increases in cyberbullying, online harassment, and exposure to harmful content as a result of increased screen time.*

This makes digital safeguarding more crucial than ever.
*New Zealand ranks 3rd globally for cyberbullying among young people, and 40% struggle with loneliness. Netsafe Report 2023.

What is Digital Safeguarding? 

Digital safeguarding involves taking proactive steps to prevent online harm and abuse. Just as with traditional safeguarding, the goal is to prevent issues before they escalate. Early detection and intervention are more effective than responding after an incident occurs.

Watch Yasmin London, our Global Cyber Safety Expert explain how Digital Safeguarding works. 

The importance of Digital Visibility

Children’s online interactions (what they do, say or share online) can put them in danger and reveal early-stage risk and behavioural patterns that may escalate without intervention. 

We believe it is one of the biggest barriers to child digital safeguarding today and it’s a very real blindspot in schools across New Zealand. 

Often hidden from parents and school leaders, these digital activities can go unnoticed, leaving schools and caregivers unable to intervene effectively.

We call this ‘The iceberg effect.’
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Iceberg Tip

Offline risks
you can see

  • Changes in behaviour
  • Injuries/bruises
  • Deterioration in academic performance
  • Absenteeism
  • Requests for help
  • Known domestic risk

Offline risks
you can see

Iceberg Tip
  • Changes in behaviour
  • Injuries/bruises
  • Deterioration in academic performance
  • Absenteeism
  • Requests for help
  • Known domestic risk
Iceberg Base

Online risks
you can't see

  • Online conversations about drugs/extremism, being harmed/intention to harm
  • Chatroom conversations with inappropriate adults
  • Incels
  • Bullying/violence
  • Self-generated sexual content
  • Feelings and emotions typed in a document
  • Harmful image sharing
  • Child-on-child abuse
  • Searches for risk-based content e.g. suicide, self-harm
  • Oversharing personal information

Online risks
you can't see

Iceberg Base
  • Online conversations about drugs/extremism, being harmed/intention to harm
  • Chatroom conversations with inappropriate adults
  • Incels
  • Bullying/violence
  • Self-generated sexual content
  • Feelings and emotions typed in a document
  • Harmful image sharing
  • Child-on-child abuse
  • Searches for risk-based content e.g. suicide, self-harm
  • Oversharing personal information

What can New Zealand Schools do about this?

While filtering tools play a key role in online safety, they are no longer sufficient on their own. Schools need to proactively detect and intervene in students' online behaviours to truly safeguard them. Digital visibility - understanding students' online interactions - is crucial for identifying and addressing risks before they escalate. This visibility helps schools move from reactive to proactive safeguarding practices, ultimately improving student outcomes and digital wellbeing. 

Traditionally, schools have relied on ‘stopping and blocking’ to shield students from online harm. While blocking remains important, it only addresses part of the problem. The real challenge lies in understanding what students encounter in the digital spaces they can access.

Without advanced technology, gaining visibility into a student's online activities and interactions is nearly impossible. 

With digital visibility schools can:

Gain insights into students' online behaviours (what they do, say, share, and with whom), which is key to effective safeguarding.

Identify and address risks by spotting potential issues and being able to intervene early, reducing the risk of missing students in need.

Shift from reactive responses to proactive safeguarding practices.

Make informed decisions and tailor digital safeguarding strategies based on actionable insights.

“Our goal is to protect every student from online harm while still allowing them to take advantage of the incredible possibilities the Internet has opened up. That’s why we partnered with Linewize.” 

Brendan Pitman, Principal. Wellesley College, NZ

The role of technology in supporting effective Digital Safeguarding


To identify immediate risks and enhance visibility, schools can lean on a range of tools and systems designed to protect individuals, particularly students, from online threats and risks. Linewize provides advanced digital safeguarding solutions designed to monitor, detect, and address potential threats in real time.

Our comprehensive suite of tools supports
teachers from all sides.

The role of real-time risk monitoring in supporting Digital Safeguarding

Real-time, human-moderated monitoring that alerts designated staff to students becoming vulnerable online

Linewize Monitor leverages keystroke technology, AI and human moderation to provide critical insights into students' online activities beyond the web browser. Continuous monitoring detects potential risks and generates instant alerts for concerning behaviour, helping to identify vulnerable students and engage relevant stakeholders promptly.

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The role of real-time wellbeing insights in supporting Digital Safeguarding

Give students a channel to speak up and schools a way to spot those in need

Unlike traditional, anonymous annual surveys, Pulse offers frequent, quick check-ins that only take a minute or two to complete. By asking students weekly about their feelings and gathering responses to five key sentiment and engagement questions, Pulse provides timely and actionable insights. This continuous feedback helps schools better understand student experiences, identify emerging concerns, and support digital safeguarding efforts more effectively.

The role of next generation filtering in supporting Digital Safeguarding

Ensure students can learn and explore the internet safely by filtering content not blocking websites

Linewize School Manager offers granular control, allowing schools to target interventions at an individual student level. It delivers comprehensive visibility into students' digital interactions and issues real-time red flags for attempts to access inappropriate or harmful content. Coming soon - School Manager will go a step further with AI-driven real-time image blurring.

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The role of classroom management tools in supporting Digital Safeguarding

Equip teachers with the ability to review student activities after a lesson, offering a valuable tool for reflection and guidance

Linewize Classwize enhances digital safeguarding by providing teachers with the ability to review historical data through its rewindability feature. This capability allows educators to access screenshot views for up to two weeks, enabling them to track and verify student behaviour over time, identify potential risks, and address issues proactively. By offering these insights, Classwize supports a safer digital learning environment and helps ensure timely intervention in safeguarding students.

What our customers say

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James Wheaton
Principal, Upper Harbour Primary.

James discusses how the use of Linewize Monitor at the school has given all-important visibility into what students are doing online coupled with the ability to identify those who may need help or support. 

Are you ready to see our Digital Safeguarding technologies in action?

Further reading

guide cover Download PDF
Guide
Everything you need to know about Digital Safeguarding
Qoria-Thumbnail-NZ - How to make invisible digital risks visible-1 Download PDF
Guide

How to make invisible digital risks, visible

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Guide
Three steps to navigating online nastiness