Young child in Scottish Highlands left 'traumatised' after 'seeing porn on school laptop'

A mum is calling on Highland Council to provide answers after her young child was allegedly exposed to traumatising pornographic material on their school laptop.

The mother-of-two, who has asked to remain anonymous, said she was concerned for her child after noticing they seemed disturbed one evening.

“It was very strange, they seemed to be in shock and kept saying they felt sick,” she told STV News.

“Me and their father pushed a little bit, and the truth came out – some of their classmates had been searching on their school-issue Chromebooks for a medical term.

“As a result, multiple children had been exposed to extremely graphic hardcore porn on school Wi-Fi.

“We are still helping our child through the emotions, confusion, and trauma of this – I am very concerned about the long-term effects of this exposure.”

Furious, she reached out to Highland Council for answers, telling STV News: “Why were the children, all in primary school, ever able to access this? What happened to filtering the content they are able to access?”

Upon asking the council for answers, she says she was met with a “high level of gaslighting”.

She was told “everything is working as it should be” and unsuitable content was filtered through their system before pupils could access it.

“I reported this immediately to the school and the council, and did some digging around on my own – I have found that multiple schools are not protected by the system the council is using,” the woman told STV News.

“While some terms are blocked by their system, it is extremely easy for a child to click through certain websites and access explicit materials anyway.”

Her extensive research, carried out by making Google searches on her child’s Chromebook, has been documented on this website.

Nicky Grant, Highland Council’s executive chief officer for education and learning, said “child safety is a priority of the Highland Council”.

She said: “Chromebooks supplied to all Highland pupils are protected by the student safety filter, ‘Securly’, and all appropriate filtering configurations are in place to protect pupils.

“We can confirm that the council has received a complaint and are investigating the allegations with Securly and a response will be provided in due course to the complainant.”

The mum originally asked Highland Council for two things – firstly, to remove or restrict internet access to all primary pupils while the matter is investigated; and secondly, to inform parents of the issue with the system.

She says on both counts, her requests were ignored and she was told that the system is working as its supposed to.

MSP for the Highlands and Islands and leader of the Scottish Conservatives, Douglas Ross MP, told STV News: “As a parent myself, I was shocked when I read this content and frankly the response from Highland Council was simply not good enough.

“I welcome the fact that concerned parents are continuing to seek answers and I am working closely with colleagues to explore ways we can raise this issue further and support the parents who want answers and action.”

In a letter sent to the concerned parent on Friday, the council stated: “As part of the investigation into this complaint, the council has also sought the advice of the independent Highland Child Protection Committee (HCPC)…their advice is that having reviewed the search history on your [child’s] profile, the content is not pornographic but in some cases it could be considered to be unsuitable.”

It added: “It is not the view of The Highland Council that shutting down the internet to all Highland school pupils pending the conclusion of the investigation into your complaint was a proportionate response as there is no evidence being identified by our provider, Securly, that this is a widespread problem.”

It concluded that the council had decided not to inform other parents across the region based on the information provided by the parent.

Grant added that she plans to link with the Highland Parent Council Partnership in order to provide an update on the matter, and provide advice and guidance to headteachers, so they are able to respond to parents on a school-by-school basis.

A Securly spokesperson said: “We are aware of the complaint that has been filed and take seriously any feedback raised by parents or educators.

“Since being notified of the complaint, we have worked collaboratively with the council to support its formal review process.

“While we cannot comment further at this time given the ongoing review, we are confident the filtering software has and continues to work as intended and in line with existing council policies.”

The mum has also requested a third-party audit of the council’s filtering system, which it said it was progressing and looking into.

Speaking with STV News shortly after receiving the letter, mum said she was “disappointed” but refused to give up.

She said: “I will take this to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman if I have to – this is a matter of not just the safety of my child, but that of every child that goes to school in the Highlands.”