Council urges parents not to allow children to watch Netflix show Squid Game
Reports of schoolchildren copying violent challenges from the hit Netflix show Squid Game have prompted a council to issue a warning to parents and guardians.
Central Bedfordshire council's education safeguarding team said in a district-wide email that the 15-rated series was "quite graphic with a lot of violent content”.
The council urged parents to be "vigilant" and added: “We strongly advise that children should not watch Squid Game."
It follows a similar warning from a primary school in Ilford after pupils were seen trying to 'play' the games featured in the programme.
Squid Game's challenges are mostly based on old playground games such as tug of war, marbles and red light, green light, but with a violent twist. Contestants are killed if they fail the tests and the last one to survive wins a large cash prize.
The email, first reported by The Guardian, warned parents to "be vigilant after hearing reports that children and young people are copying games and violence”.
It added: “There have been some concerning reports recently about children and young people ‘playing’ Squid Game whilst at school.
“Squid Game is also being viewed via other platforms such as YouTube and TikTok, and given the popularity of the games in the show, developers have made various mini-games based on Squid Game on Roblox and other gaming platforms."
Last week John Bramston Primary School in Ilford sent a letter to parents warning them of sanctions if children were seen mimicking scenes from the series.
The school wrote: “Children who are watching this are being exposed to graphic realistic scenes of violence and sadly children are acting out this behaviours in the playground which will not be TOLERATED.
"Also please explicitly share that pretending to shoot one another is not appropriate - nor acceptable. Please support us in keeping your children safe.”
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