It is important to remember that the legal age to have an account on most social media sites, such as Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, Snapchat, is 13 years old.

DIGITAL SAFETY DURING COVID-19: SAFEGUARDING FROM HARMFUL INFLUENCES ONLINE

Online safety is a fundamental part of children’s education in today’s digital world and is embedded within our Creative Curriculum to enhance their learning at school. We also want to help our parents and carers to improve their own understanding of online safety in order to eliminate any major issues, so they can learn to use the internet and all digital media in a safe and secure way.

At Home

As parents and carers we know how important online safety is regarding the internet, as children use it on a daily basis. They use it to learn, play, socialise and express themselves.  It’s a hugely innovating place of amazing opportunities. However, the technology children use every day can seem a bit daunting (we are just tourists whilst they are the natives – brought into the world in a digital era and you might worry about the risks your child can face online – such as bullying, trolling, contact with strangers or the possibility of seeing illegal or inappropriate content.   For Parental Control help please visit go-compare.

Please visit CEOP to help you start to protect your children online and decrease the risks they face as well as engaging with your children regarding their use of the internet while at home.  Here are some conversation starter ideas from www.childnet.com

  • Ask your child to tell you about the sites they like to visit and what they enjoy doing online.
  • Ask them about how they stay safe online. What tips do they have for you, and where did they learn them? What is OK and not OK to share?
  • Do they know where to go for help?
  • Think about how you use the internet as a family?

 Parent Resources

To try and help you with the ever changing world of the internet and social media we’ve suggested a few internet sites which have fantastic resources in kidzone.

ICT in schools also have a vast range of resources , please visit their site for online safety news, informative videos and fact sheets.  There is also a link to the Online safety Hub.

We DO NOT advocate that children use these, however, in order to keep your child safe please look at the fact sheets which contain information on different types of social media, games and apps.

At School

As part of your child’s curriculum and the development of computer skills, we provide access to the internet and continually teach online safety. We strongly believe that the use of the web and email is beneficial and an essential tool for children as they grow up in the modern world. However, there are always concerns about children having access to inappropriate materials, we have taken positive steps to deal with this risk in school. Our school internet access provider operates a filtering system that restricts access to inappropriate materials, we also use an online safety monitoring tool which provides the school with reports if someone has tried to access something they shouldn’t.

For the first half term of each school year, each class’ computing consists of online safety, discussions on how we can all stay safe online and the dangers we may face on the internet.  Every child and parent has signed our Home School Agreement and Responsible Computer and Internet Use so that we know they have read and understood our school’s rules on staying safe.

For more information you can download our E-safety policy,Keeping Children Save in Education and the Ofsted inspection guidance for online safety.

The National Online Safety website has lots of further information, as well as the DfE such as Cyberbullying.

If you require any further information or have any concerns please speak to Mrs Docherty or Miss Begum our Computing Lead.