Students at a high school have been warned they may be stopped from being allowed into sixth form if they bully others online.

Director of sixth form at Ballakermeen High School, Douglas, Richard Karran said: ’There is no place in the sixth form for students who do this.’

He was responding to a message posted by the head of Year 11, Max Stokoe on an online platform that’s used by pupils and teachers.

Mr Stokoe said: ’This week I have had several emails regarding the inappropriate use of social media from some of you.

’I am not going to go into specific details on here but wanted to simply remind you on how to use social media platforms appropriately and most importantly responsibly.

’Just remember many of you will be applying for jobs and further education in the coming months, and need to be aware that employers will look through your social media before the interview process.

’I appreciate some of you use social media as a way to promote your platform and increase the number of followers you have. In order to do this you need to use initiative and be creative.

’Hats off to you for those of you that are doing this, but please ensure you don’t use your platform to criticise, belittle, bully and berate others. How would you feel if you played a pivotal role in someone’s mental health being damaged?’

After reading Mr Stokoe’s post, Mr Karran publicly wrote: ’I will be interested in seeing who has been using social media for bullying purposes and will be bringing this up to parents in sixth form interviews in the summer.’

Mr Stokoe suggested ways of coping with social media, such as a ’detox for one week’, logging out of accounts and increasing productivity and happiness.

He added: ’For those of you that may have received abusive messages, please speak with your parents and furthermore the police should you need to.’

We approached the school for further comment but received no response.

The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children defines cyber bullying as ’online bullying that can follow the child wherever they go, via social networks, gaming and mobile phone.’

The NSPCC reported in November 2020 that the number of counselling sessions for children experiencing bullying increased by 70% since the start of the first national lockdown in England.

From April to October 2020, the charity’s trained counsellors held 1,593 counselling sessions with children about online bullying.

The Manx police posted the following advice during January’s lockdown: ’We have had an email from a concerned parent who wanted to remain anonymous. They had a very good point about online bullying/cyber bullying.

’This is unacceptable at any time but during lockdown the impact on victims is even worse. Online communication becomes even more important and if that is tainted by cyber bullying it can cause real issues.

’Parents/carers please talk to your children about the issue and young people please support each other, consider the feelings of others and treat people how you would like to be treated.’