E-Safety Message - Fortnite
We are writing to you to make sure that you are aware of a game that many of our children are playing online. Obviously, if your child is not playing this, then please ignore this letter and accept our apologies for having sent it somewhat generically on this occasion.
The game in question is called Fortnite. It is a free online survival game, in its basic form, with players working together on various missions against an army of zombie-like creatures that are trying to kill them.
Despite Fortnite having a PEGI rating of 12, many of our children, particularly in Rubies & Sapphires have been playing this game online. We are aware that for some families this is causing issues at home as the children try to assure their parents that ‘everyone is playing it’ and that they don’t want to be the only one not allowed. We are concerned that not all parents will understand what the game involves and so we are attaching some information which you might find useful when deciding whether or not your child should play the game.
You will, of course, make your own decisions about this for your child. However, should you decide to ignore the 12+ age restriction, can we urge you to sit with your child at some point when Fortnite is on the screen and to keep an eye on how your child is behaving online towards others, who is in their shared online community at any given time and how they are behaving towards your child?
Currently, staff in school are spending a lot of time with some children each day, dealing with the emotional fallout from having played Fortnite the previous evening. When they are playing as teams, if one member of the team has to stop playing for whatever reason, or makes a mistake, it has an impact on their mood in school and how they interact with each other in school. We’re sure that you will be as anxious as we are to limit the issues that are arising from this game to an absolute minimum.
Please do take the time to have a read of the attached documents which will give you the facts about the game. Whilst we are certainly not experts on the game, if you have any questions or want to discuss any further, please do pop in.