Short answer
Send the first in late August (phones and bedtime), the second in October (games and chat), the third in early December (new devices as gifts) and the fourth in January (a family reset). Add your school's link from your share kit at the end of each so families can set up their home Wi‑Fi filter.
How to use these
Copy each piece into your newsletter at the time suggested. Replace [our school] and [link] with your school's name and its link from your share kit. Each one ends with a single step so parents can act straight away.
Late August: a fresh start for phones
A fresh start for phones this school year
A new school year is the easiest time to change a family habit. One that makes the biggest difference: phones and tablets charge outside bedrooms at night. Most of what worries parents online happens after 10 p.m., and students who sleep without a phone nearby arrive at school more rested.
This week, pick a spot (the kitchen counter works well) and a time. Do it for the grown-ups too. It's easier for children when everyone does it.
If you'd also like your home Wi‑Fi to block adult sites and put devices to bed automatically, you can set it up free in about five minutes through [our school]'s link: [link]
October: games, chat and strangers
The chat inside the game
Roblox, Minecraft, Fortnite and Discord are where many of our students spend their free time. The games themselves are mostly fine. The risk is the chat, where anyone can message a child.
Three things help: check the chat settings together (most games let you limit chat to friends), agree that your child only chats with people they know in real life, and remind them that if anyone asks them to keep a secret, they should tell you straight away.
Most of all, tell your child: "If something online ever feels wrong, you're not in trouble for telling me." Our home Wi‑Fi guide for families is here: [link]
Early December: before the new devices arrive
Before you wrap that phone or tablet
If a new phone, tablet, game console or laptop is on the gift list this year, the best time to set it up is before it's wrapped. A few minutes now saves a lot of arguments in January.
Turn on the built-in controls (Screen Time on iPhone and iPad, Family Link on Android), decide where it will charge at night, and write down two or three simple rules together on Christmas morning.
Filtering your home Wi‑Fi covers every new device the moment it connects, including friends' phones over the holidays. Set it up free through [our school]'s link: [link]
January: a family reset
A January reset for screens
After a long break, most families' screen habits have drifted. That's normal. January is a good time to sit down together for twenty minutes and agree on a few rules for the rest of the year.
We've shared a one-page family tech agreement you can print and fill in together: where devices sleep, screen-free times, which apps are OK, and what to do if something goes wrong. Children keep rules better when they help write them.
Find it here, along with [our school]'s free home Wi‑Fi filter: [link]
Sheepdog Filter
Filter your school's network, then help families do the same at home.
One setting covers every device on campus, and Chromebooks stay filtered at home. Your school gets its own page, a share kit and a QR code for families.
Set up our schoolQuestions schools ask
Can we edit these?
Of course. They're written to be used as they are, but change anything that doesn't fit your school's voice.
Where do we get our school's link?
In your dashboard, under your share kit. It opens your school's own page, so families who sign up through it are counted for your school.