Online Safety
At School
As part of your child’s curriculum and the development of ICT skills, we provide access to the internet only in teacher supervised lessons. We strongly believe that the use of the web is hugely worthwhile and an essential tool for children as they grow up in the modern world. But because there are always concerns about children having access to undesirable 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.
At the start of the school year, each class discusses how we can all stay safe online and the dangers we may face on the internet.
At home
Computers, games consoles, mobile phones etc all have access to the internet.
Think before you post online
- Talk together and have fun learning together.
- Keep virus and firewall software up to-date.
- Remember that passwords should be kept private and not shared with others. Many eSafety incidents relate back to the sharing of passwords
- Involve everyone and agree your family guidelines and rules.
- Regularly discuss online safety and go online with your children. Communication is the key to ‘staying safe’ online.
- Enable your ‘browser safe’ search option and/ or consider using internet filtering software, walled gardens and child-friendly search engines. Critically view all content as some websites are not what they appear.
- Keep the computer in a communal area of the house, where it’s easier to monitor what your children are viewing. Do not let children have webcams, or similar, in their bedroom. Remember any image, sound or text can be copied and viewed by everyone. Supervise your children when using the internet on mobile phones and games consoles.
- Talk to your children about why they should not to give out their personal details. If they want to subscribe to any online service then make up a family email address to receive the mail.
- Encourage your children to use moderated chat rooms and never to meet up with an online ‘friend’ without first telling you.
- Encourage your children to tell you if they feel uncomfortable, upset or threatened by anything they see online.
Chat with your children
Here are some conversation starter ideas from www.childnet.com
- Ask your children 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?
- Ask them if they know where to go for help, where to find the safety advice, privacy settings and how to report or block on the services they use.
- Encourage them to help. Perhaps they can show you how to do something better online or they might have a friend who would benefit from their help and 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
Useful websites for parents:
https://youtu.be/GHW6O3Mf0qE Online safety guidance
https://youtu.be/GAXBz5kC3CQ Staying safe online
Uk Safer Internet Centre http://www.saferinternet.org.uk/
https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/
http://www.childnet.com/parents-and-carers
https://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/
https://www.internetmatters.org/
Filtering