Childnet Digital Leaders mark the launch of Facebook partnership at 'House of Us' event

17 Oct 2017 UK SIC

The ’House of Us’ event in London is a two-day immersive online safety exhibition showcasing youth voice online as well as the impact of cyberbullying on young people’s lives.

The event marks the start of a new partnership with Facebook, which will enable Childnet to grow the reach and impact of its Childnet Digital Leaders Programme, delivered as part of its work in the UK Safer Internet Centre. 

The ‘House of Us’ event

Our Digital Leaders are participating in ‘House of Us’, an immersive online safety experience organised by @facebook https://t.co/8rwGXehiKi pic.twitter.com/f1RvDyubT3 — Childnet (@childnet) October 16, 2017

Eight Digital Leader schools will attend the 2 day event, as well as a number of Diana Award Anti-bullying Ambassadors, members of industry, government and other youth organisations.

The event includes a range of interactive activities; you can see what the Digital Leaders from Wath Academy got up to in this livestream.

What happened on day 1 at the House of Us

During the ‘House of Us’ event Karen Bradley, Secretary of State for Department of Culture, Media and Sport, met with the young people to discuss their experiences of being Digital Leaders.

The Digital Leaders also met Antigone Davis, Facebook’s Head of Global Safety. During a Facebook Live video hosted by Mumsnet the Digital Leaders were able to ask her their questions, including what happened when you make a report on Facebook.

The House of Us event showcased the impact that the Digital Leaders have had in their schools.

Poppy, 15, explains how she makes a difference to her school & community by supporting her peers as a digital leader https://t.co/dhzV6oqAvj pic.twitter.com/tQrZCKNM7A — DCMS (@DCMS) October 16, 2017

Throughout the day the Digital Leaders spoke to journalists, including from BBC and ITV news, and also took part in a live discussion hosted by Mumsnet.

All of the Digital Leaders who attended the event showed passion, strong leadership qualities and really helped to create a buzz at the event for everyone who attended. They demonstrated that peer-led education is a fantastic way to get young people and their wider communities involved in online safety issues.

The Digital Leaders on Twitter

Digital Leaders from Tuxford Academy shared their experience of the day on Twitter:

Our students were stupendous ambassadors. Talking to MPs and Facebook representatives.@TuxfordAcademy @childnet #proudteacher pic.twitter.com/QVL1ynyrYr — Kira (@khagan060692) October 16, 2017

The Digital Leaders from Bangor Academy have said that following their day at the event they are ready to take their training back to their school.

Great day at @facebook training us on staying safe online! Staying in London overnight thanks #Ophelia Well looked after by the @childnet pic.twitter.com/PBx4qnFePs — Esafe_BASFC (@Esafe_BASFC) October 16, 2017

Today even more Digital Leaders will come to the event for day two of ‘House of Us’; their activities throughout the day will be showcased on the Childnet Twitter account.

We’d also love to hear from other Digital Leaders across the country about their activities, why not ask your Digital Leaders to fill in this picture, telling us what they like about being a Digital Leader, and Tweet us to let us know what they say.