A CHILD in Wokingham Borough is exposed to sexual grooming every week according to police.

The stark warning comes as some children as young as 11 are being approached through online social media.

Chief Inspector Rob France said 'sexting' was an increasingly common and children in Year 7 and 8 were being pressured to send images of themselves online.

"About an incident a week where a young person is the victim of exploitation. That is to say there’s at least a risk of them being groomed," he said.

"Every one of them is a child at risk of further exploitation.

"This is children sharing images of themselves naked of semi-dressed usually to people the believe they know or believe they are in a relationship with.

"You can never know what that person is going to do with it.

"These are young secondary school children who are vulnerable to exploitation.

"We want to get the message out that it’s not safe, what we are really trying to do is raise awareness of this issue."

The warning came ahead of Safer Internet Day (Tuesday), which saw thousands of organisations across the country join together to promote internet safety.

"Never send or upload indecent images of anyone under the age of 18, it’s illegal to do so," Chief Inspector France said.

"We are not looking to criminalise children but they need to understand the sharing of an indecent image is a crime. We want to educate them.

“It makes you vulnerable because once that image is out there’s no getting it back. As soon as you send that image you can’t be sure it won’t be in the public domain.

"Such an indecent image can crush a young person’s confidence, effect them for the rest of their life and make them vulnerable."

He advised children to talk to a teacher, guardian or another appropriate adult if they were worried by someone's behaviour on line.

As part of a campaign to educate children to the dangers posed by some people online Thames Valley Police have spoken to some 2,700 school children with age appropriate warnings.

A spokesperson for CEOP command, responsible for child protection nationwide, said offenders tended to use a scatter-gun approach, sometimes messaging hundreds of youngsters in the hope one or two will reply.

"Sometimes a child’s behaviour changes just as a normal part of growing up," they said.

"Remember, however, that you know your child well. Trust your instincts.

"If they are reluctant to go online, they become more secretive, or if they suddenly have things they couldn’t afford, then you need to find out more."

If you are concerned you can call CEOP command on 0800 1111.