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Positive and safe participation in the digital world supports the healthy development of children and young people. However, online environments can also expose them to risks, such as harmful content, inappropriate contacts, cyberbullying and privacy breaches.
The responding to online safety incidents in South Australian schools guideline (PDF 1 MB) outlines how schools should respond to online safety incidents involving children and young people.
Schools should use this guideline when responding to incidents involving children and young people enrolled in South Australian schools. This includes incidents that occur outside school hours or off school grounds where there is a reasonable connection to the school community or school relationships.
This guideline helps schools:
- respond to online safety incidents effectively
- support the safety and wellbeing of children and young people involved
- escalate serious incidents appropriately, including incidents that require coordination across sectors and agencies.
What is an online safety incident
An online safety incident is any online-related situation that causes, or could reasonably cause, harm to a child or young person's physical or psychological wellbeing.
Harm may result from the online behaviour of others or a student’s behaviour, through direct participation in online activities such as social media, games, and apps, or through indirect exposure to harmful behaviours or content initiated by others when the child or young person is not actively online.
Online risks include:
- cyber bullying
- image-based abuse, such as deepfakes, sextortion or the non-consensual sharing of intimate images
- illegal and restricted content, such as children being exposed to pornography, child exploitation material or violence.
This guideline does not cover online abuse directed at staff members by the school community.
For information about how schools can respond to offensive, abusive or threatening behaviour of visitors refer to managing trespass and offensive, abusive, or threatening visitor behaviour (staff login required).
Updated guideline
The guideline has been updated in July 2026 to reflect current legislation and the growing complexity of online behaviours and harms affecting children and young people.
The summary below highlights the key changes, including updated responsibilities and expectations.
Change | Summary of the change | What the change means for schools |
|---|---|---|
Safety and wellbeing prioritised | Emphasis placed on the safety and wellbeing of all children and young people involved. | Safety and wellbeing in all online safety incidents must be prioritised, including support planning for children and young people. |
Terminology changes | Terminology for online harm to children and young people has been updated to align with state and federal legislation, eSafety Commissioner resources, and to reflect harm types beyond cyberbullying. | Staff need to be mindful of terminology being used when communicating with other services and the wider community and when using resources, such as those provided by eSafety. |
Expanded reporting requirements | Reporting pathways have been clarified and expanded to include the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE). | All serious online incidents must be reported to local police, child protection and on the department’s incident management system. Online child exploitation must be reported to ACCCE as well as South Australia police. |
Enhanced guidance on the removal of harmful content | Detailed guidance on how to seek support for removing harmful online content has been provided. | Staff should encourage children, young people, and families to report harmful content to the online platform. They should also advise that reports can be made to the eSafety Commissioner, and, with consent, may report on their behalf. |
Increased protections around collecting evidence | Guidance on collecting evidence and securing digital content has been strengthened to better protect staff. | Staff must not view, copy, share or record digital content that may contain sexually explicit content, instead police advice must be sought. |
Inclusion of cultural considerations | The guideline now includes Aboriginal specific support services and advice on addressing the cultural needs of students from Aboriginal and culturally linguistically diverse backgrounds. | Consider the cultural needs of Aboriginal and culturally and linguistically diverse students involved and seek appropriate cultural guidance when required. |
Timely communication with parents/carers | Increased emphasis on and clarity regarding early communication with parents and carers to support the protection of children and young people. | Contact parents or carers as soon as possible after an incident unless police advise otherwise. |
Post-incident debriefing | Post-incident debriefing has been introduced to support wellbeing and continuous improvement for staff, students, and parents or carers following incidents. | Offer debriefing opportunities for staff, students, and parents or carers following an incident. |
Social media age restrictions
In December 2025 the Australian Government introduced social media age restrictions (staff login required) for children under 16.
There are no penalties for children, parents or carers.
Age-restricted social media platforms are responsible for enforcing the restrictions. They must take reasonable steps to prevent children under 16 from creating or keeping accounts.
Schools do not enforce these restrictions. However, they must still respond to online safety incidents involving children and young people, regardless of a student's age or the platform's rules.
Help and support
e-Safety Commissioner
The eSafety Commissioner is Australia’s online safety regulator.
eSafety investigates and responds to online harm. Children, young people, parents, carers, and authorised people such as teachers, can report serious online incidents to eSafety. In some cases, they must first report the content to the online platform before eSafety can take action.
eSafety also provides information, advice and education for children, young people, parents, carers and schools to promote safer online environments.
The eSafety website includes a dedicated schools hub. The hub brings together online safety resources for Australian schools, including professional learning, a toolkit for schools and best practice framework for online safety education.
Schools can encourage children, young people and their families to access eSafety for up-to-date information, resources and support.
