Online Safety

With children spending more time online to do schoolwork and other activities, there could be an additional risk. This is why it is more important than ever that children, parents and carers know how to stay safe online.

It is important that parents and carers talk to their children about online safety, show an interest in what they are doing online and ask what they like and dislike about the apps and services they use. Discuss age appropriate ‘ground rules’ like how much time they spend online doing different things and what games and apps are appropriate to use. Also consider setting up and reviewing age-appropriate parental controls. Setting parental controls can be a quick and effective tool to help protect children online.

  • Thinkuknow provides advice from the National Crime Agency (NCA) on staying safe online
  • Parent info is a collaboration between Parentzone and the NCA providing support and guidance for parents from leading experts and organisations
  • Childnet offers a toolkit to support parents and carers of children of any age to start discussions about their online life, to set boundaries around online behaviour and technology use, and to find out where to get more help and support
  • Internet matters provides age-specific online safety checklists, guides on how to set parental controls on a range of devices, and a host of practical tips to help children get the most out of their digital world
  • London Grid for Learning has support for parents and carers to keep their children safe online, including tips to keep primary aged children safe online
  • Net-aware has support for parents and carers from the NSPCC, including a guide to social networks, apps and games
  • Let’s Talk About It has advice for parents and carers to keep children safe from online radicalization
  • UK Safer Internet Centre has tips, advice, guides and other resources to help keep children safe online, including parental controls offered by home internet providers and safety tools on social networks and other online services

Harmful or upsetting content

Get support by:

  • reporting harmful online content to the UK Safer Internet Centre
  • getting government advice and trusted resources from Educate Against Hate on safeguarding from radicalisation, building resilience to extremism, and promoting shared values

Bullying or abuse online

You can:

Schools may also wish to use resources such as Tootoot to provide a confidential route for pupils to report bullying or abuse.

 

Alan Mackenzie from www.esafety-adviser.com provides us with a regular newsletter update which we share with parents and carers via email. Please click on the links below for previous copies.

E Safety News January 2023

SKIPS Safety Net

There is a real and growing concern of how many young people find it ok to share inappropriate images online. It is leading to so many becoming vulnerable to potential exploitation, blackmail and harm from a young age, leaving a lasting digital footprint. If you share it, you are involved.

SKIPS Education have produced the poster published below to highlight the dangers of sharing inappropriate images with even a trusted friend. You can visit SKIPS Education for more lots more valuable information on this subject here.

Please click on the image for a full size poster.

New Resource – 5 to 8 Year Olds – Jack Changes the Game

CEOP have released a new learning activity and picture book (PDF) for 5 to 8 year olds which can be used in the classroom or be used by parent/carers at home. The book is all about online friends and how online friends are not always as they seem. You can see all the resources for free download HERE.

For Parents – Find the Fake

Internet Matters have a great little quiz for parents and their children  to test their knowledge around areas such as fake news, disinformation, misinformation, and how to stop it from spreading. You can find the quiz HERE.

For Parents – Epic Games Store Parental Controls

Epic is a games store and also games-playing platform where children can play games such as Fortnite, Fall Guys and Rocket League. There are a number of good parental features available for under 13’s which some parents may not know about including: chatting, in-app purchasing, inappropriate  content and more. Please click to read  THIS guide for parents.