The cops will sure be busy lol

@ Bolded - as a parent, that's one of the reasons I joined this site.

While some parents are genuinely clueless, others are well aware and still just let their kids do whatever. I can see the reason behind that particular group of headteachers deciding to do that - and it's actually just one small group of schools doing it in one county only - it could be that they have local social issues that have affected their decision to do that. But I can't see it becoming country-wide.

EDIT - Actually, if I were a parent that wasn't as clued up as I am, and I got that warning letter, it might make me take a second look at what games my kids are playing. Probably not a bad thing that they've done it, but it'll be very difficult to enforce, I should imagine.

Well if the parents allow its not against any law is it ? So what will they be reporting ?

I played GTA and all sorts of M rated games when I was very young, like 10-11 or so, probably younger I was like 8 when I played DOOM. My parantes quite frankly had no idea about anything games related so they allowed based on thinking all games were Mario, but they were excelent parents overall and eventualy they learned what those games were about and decided they just keep watch and if they noticed anything funny theyd take action but I turned out pretty alright, after all as I said, they were rgeat parents.

This is a parent's responsibility on what to decide what games (or any medium) are suitable for their kids, threatening to report them for neglect because of this is pretty ridiculous.

that's what's missing nowadays.

@Leadified: I dont think it's ridiculous if it starts awareness to some parents

That's only partly true. While legally it is parents responsibility to bring up their children, it is also the general community as well. It's all about the betterment of the children. If a parent isn't upholding their responsibility the state can step in and remove children from their parents. I'm of course speaking about abuse in all the different faucets for that, neglect included and allowing a young child to watch/play mature rated games can fall under neglect among other things. 

So it is actually part of the teachers responsibily as part of the community to help raise the child especially when there is a possability that they may be actually spending more time with the child than the actual parent 5 days a week. 

It depends on peoples personalities and how they have been brought up as to if they find the forbidden more desirable or not. 

You don't raise awareness to a potential issue by threatening people. Especially since the parents are not breaking the law and their justification is unsourced statistic.

15 of the 16 schools who's parents have been contacted are primary schools, where the age goes up to 11. So, excluding one school, the headteachers are warning that if they are made aware of a child aged 11 or under playing a game like GTA, it can be construed as neglect on the part of the parents, and neglect is a good enough reason to contact the police and social services. The letter was sent to parents after it had already been discovered that some of these children were playing 18+ rated games, so it's not a potential issue for them - it's real.

@ bolded: Lucky you. For one set of parents like yours, there are likely 10 sets of parents who's allowing of their 10-11 year olds to play GTA is just the tip of the iceberg. @ your first comment - what they'll be reporting is neglect.

Oddly enough I have no issue with it. Even though I played M rated games (17+) as a kid. Maybe because back when I played those games they were 16 bit and 32 bit games. Looking back on them now they are still pretty cartoonish. Not only that, since they were 16 and 32 bit, they did not have voice chat, which only makes it worse. Maybe its a sign that I'm in the twilight years of my gaming life, but I'm going to have to agree. The M rated of my era isn't the M rated of today.

Whether or not it leads to results will probably be a different story though.