E-Safety
It's important to remember that the legal age to have an account on most social media platforms, such as instagram, Facebook, Youtube and Snapchat is 13 years old!
The internet has changed all of our lives, particularly our children’s. For parents and carers this opens up a whole new world of things to be aware of. For many of us, this can all be a bit too much.
You might be struggling to keep up with the things your child is doing online, you might wonder whether what they are doing is safe, and you might also be thinking, 'how can I be as good a parent online as I am offline?'
E Safety is an integral part of children's education in today's digital world and is embedded in their learning at school. We also want to help our parents and children improve their own understanding of e-safety issues so they can learn to use the internet and all digital media in a safe and secure way.
At Home
As a parent, you'll know how important the internet is to children-they use it to learn, play, socialise and express themselves. It is a highly creative place of amazing opportunities. But the technology children use every day can seem a bit daunting and you might worry about the risks your child can face online-such as cyberbullying, contact from strangers or the possiblity of them seeing illegal or inappropiate content.
You can download a simple checklist here that may help you start to protect your children online and decrease the risks they face. Or, if you prefer, you can engage with your children regarding their use of internet at home. Here are some conversation starter ideas from childnet.
- Ask your children to tell you about the sites they like to visit and what they enjoy doing online.
- Ask them 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?
- Ask them if they know where to go for help, where to find safety advice, privacy settings and how to report or block on the services they use.
- Encourage them to help. Prehaps they can show you how to do something better online or they might have a friend who would benefit from their help or support.
- Think about how you use the internet as a family. What could you do to get more out of the internet together and further enjoy your lives online?
Parent Resources
To try and help parents with the fast moving and changing world of the internet and social media, we've suggested a few internet sites/information leaflets below which are fantastic resources. They contain information on different types of social media and how to keep children safe:
Jessie and Friends: great website full of information to keep 4-7 year olds safe online.
Young People and Social Networking
There is a great new online safety tool designed for parents launched by the Department for Education (DfE) called Parent info. It has advice on everything from keeping children safe from online trolls to WhatsApp-a guide for parents.
Think U Know is another good website that offers a range of advice and support for keeping your children safe online. This website has a useful section on gaming online.
Internet matters another useful website that gives information and advice on Social Media platforms such as Snapchat and Instagram.
You can download the DfE advice for parents on cyberbullying here.
At School
As part of your child's curriculum and the development of computer skills, we provide access to the internet only in teacher supervised lessons. We strongly believe that the use of the web and email is hugely worthwile and an essential tool for children to use as they grow up in the modern world but, because there is always concerns about children having access to undesirable materials, we as a school, operate a internet filtering system that restricts access to inappropiate content and materials and is regularly updated.
At the start of the school year, each class discuss how we can all stay safe online and the dangers we may face on the internet. All children will have the opportunity to sign an acceptable use agreement.
You can download and view the agreements here.
KS1 Acceptable use agreement is here
KS2 Acceptable use agreement is here
Remote Learning
Remote learning has been a focus for many months and has helped our children access the curriculum whilst in lockdown.
The school uses its own website as the main delivery of online learning and ClassDojo as a video/messaging tool to communicate to children and parents.
Both the school's website and ClassDojo are regularly updated with new content for your child to access whilst learning from home.
Here are quick links to a range of internet safety websites that you might find useful too:
NSPCC Netaware (http://www.net-aware.org.uk)
Safer Internet (http://www.saferinternet.org.uk)
Childnet (http://www.childnet.com)
Internet Matters (http://www.internetmatters.org)
CEOP Police (http://www.ceop.police.uk/safety-centre)