At ISL, our Digital Life Initiative aims to establish a shared, schoolwide approach to digital citizenship, empowering students to navigate an increasingly complex digital world safely, responsibly, and critically.
Through proactive education across the primary and secondary school, we aim to strengthen students’ digital literacy, ethical decision-making, and critical thinking. We also seek to raise awareness of emerging online risks, including the misuse of AI, while prioritising student well-being and safeguarding.
Achieving this requires a collaborative approach. Alongside ongoing professional development for our educators, we are committed to working in partnership with parents to build a consistent, informed approach to technology use across school and home. Together, we can equip our learning community with the knowledge, skills and confidence to make thoughtful, responsible choices in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.
An important part of this initiative is understanding the experiences, perspectives and priorities of our families. By listening to parent voices, we can ensure that the next stage of our work reflects the needs of our community and supports a shared approach to digital life at school and at home.
We invite you to share your views through our parent survey.
The survey contains 12 multiple-choice questions, with opportunities to add comments.
Please respond based on the experience of one of your children at ISL. You are welcome to complete the survey separately for each child.
Responses will be reviewed collectively, so please do not include student names. If you have an urgent safeguarding concern, please use the school’s usual reporting channels.
📍 Click here to complete the Digital Parent Survey 📍
Research continues to highlight the benefits of limiting recreational screen time for children and young people, particularly in supporting sleep, well-being, physical activity, and meaningful connections with others.
However, the amount of time spent on screens is only part of the picture. It is also important to consider how students use technology, the content they engage with, and the impact their digital experiences may have on their well-being and development.
At ISL, we aim to take a balanced, informed approach that considers both the opportunities and the challenges of digital life.
In February 2026, a survey of 405 ISL parents explored family experiences and perspectives on smartphone use.
The findings indicated that most students did not receive a smartphone until Year 8 or Year 9. They also showed that many parents of students in Year 6 and Year 7 wished they had delayed giving their child a smartphone by at least one or two years.
These findings highlight the thoughtful decisions families are making about when and how their children access technology. They also reinforce the value of sharing experiences and learning from one another as we work towards a consistent, supportive approach across school and home.
Read the full parent survey report here.
We recognise that navigating digital life with children can present challenges at every stage of their development. Providing parents with practical guidance and opportunities to share experiences is therefore an important part of our initiative.
Before the October break, a parent workshop was delivered on Living with Screens in Primary School. For families seeking further guidance and practical ideas, we recommend exploring the resources from Action Innocence, which are available in several languages.
By working together, we can help our students develop the confidence, judgement and responsibility they need to thrive in an increasingly digital world.
Kerry Robinson and Jessica O’Neill Casas
Digital Life Initiative Project Leads