Moving to the UK for education is an exciting step for families but alongside new schools and experiences comes a new digital world to navigate.

Even for our younger students aged 4–11, the internet is often part of everyday life. From games and videos to school platforms, children are online more than ever. However they often don’t fully understand how their personal information is being used.

That’s where guidance from the UK Government’s “Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)” is helpful.

A Helpful Resource for Parents

The ICO has created a dedicated online resource called  Switched on to privacy | ICO

This website is designed to help UK parents and guardians have simple, age appropriate conversations with children about online privacy.

It breaks down what can feel like a complicated topic into something practical, accessible and most importantly child friendly.

As well as Study Links staff being familiar with this to support our younger students, we encourage our student’s parents to also familiarise themselves with the guidance to better equip their children before moving to the UK, and to understand the expectations of UK law – which may be different to their home country – to prevent and better understand issues whilst their child is in the UK.

Why Online Privacy Matters for Young Children

Children don’t always realise that:

• Apps, games, and websites collect personal data
• Information like names, locations, or photos can be shared
• Some platforms track behaviour to show targeted content

UK data protection guidance recognises that children need extra protection online and that their personal data must be handled with greater care.

Even more importantly, most online services must now be designed with high privacy settings by default for children.

What Should Children Aged 4–11 Learn?

The ICO encourages parents to start with simple, everyday discussions:

1. What is personal information?

Help children understand basics like:

• Their name, school, address
• Photos and videos
• Passwords (the big one!)

2. “Think before you share”

Teach them that once something is online, it can be hard to take back.

3. Ask before clicking

Encourage children to check with a parent or guardian before:

• Downloading apps
• Clicking pop-ups
• Signing up to games

4. Privacy settings matter

Even young children can begin to understand that:

• Some things should stay private
• Not everything needs to be shared

Why This Matters for International Students

For international families:

• Digital platforms may be different from home countries
• UK privacy laws and protections may feel unfamiliar and different to home-country expectations
• Children may be using English language apps for the first time

This makes guidance even more important, not just for safety, but for confidence as a family that children are safe so far from home but with the world accessible at their fingertips.

And if you’d like extra support, the ICO’s “Switched on to Privacy” resource is a great place to begin.

Study Links have many years of experience handling data protection/privacy-related cases involving international students.  As part of our guardianship services, we work with students and their families to ensure that the UK’s laws are understood and abided by, and that in cases where there has been an issue (e.g. illegally sharing someone’s personal data, blackmail), these are resolved as quickly and discreetly as possible with the relevant parties.

Register with Study Links today, for an educational guardianship service you can rely on 24/7/365 GuardianshipApplication