Friday, 29 Mar 2024

Molly Russell inquest: social media ‘almost impossible’ to keep track of, says teacher

Molly Russell inquest: social media ‘almost impossible’ to keep track of, says teacher


Molly Russell inquest: social media ‘almost impossible’ to keep track of, says teacher

The headteacher of Molly Russell's secondary school has told an inquest into the teenager's death it is "almost impossible" to keep track of the risks posed to pupils by social media.

North London coroner's court heard of the "complete and terrible shock" at Molly's school after the 14-year-old killed herself in November 2017. Molly, from Harrow in north-west London, killed herself after viewing extensive amounts of online content related to suicide, depression, self-harm and anxiety.

Sue Maguire, the headteacher at Hatch End high school in Harrow, was asked how difficult it was for a school to stay on top of dangerous social media content.

She said: "There is a level where I want to say it is almost impossible to keep track of social media but we have to try, and we have to respond to the information as we receive it."

Describing the school's "shock" at Molly's death, Maguire added that teachers had warned students about the "dangers of social media for a long time".

She said: "Our experience of young people is that social media plays a hugely dominant role in their lives and it causes no end of issues. But we don't present a stance that they should not use it. But it presents challenges to schools that we simply didn't have 10 or 15 years ago."

Oliver Sanders KC, representing the Russell family, asked Maguire whether the school was aware of the suicide and self-harm-related content available to students on sites such as Instagram.

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