Online Safety
Staying Safe Online
It’s important to remember that the legal age to have an account on most social media – Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, Snapchat – is 13 years old.
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.
Staying Safe Online
1) Don’t post any personal information online – like your address, email address or mobile number.
2) Think carefully before posting pictures or videos of yourself. Once you’ve put a picture of yourself online most people can see it and may be able to download it, it’s not just yours anymore.
3) Keep your privacy settings as high as possible
4) Never give out your passwords
5) Don’t befriend people you don’t know
6) Don’t meet up with people you’ve met online. Speak to your parent or carer about people suggesting you do
7) Remember that not everyone online is who they say they are
8) Think carefully about what you say before you post something online
9) Respect other people’s views, even if you don’t agree with someone else’s views doesn’t mean you need to be rude
10) If you see something online that makes you feel uncomfortable, unsafe or worried: leave the website, turn off your computer if you want to and tell a trusted adult immediately.
Top 10 tips for mobile phone safety
1) Remember if you are being bullied it isn’t your fault and there is nothing so awful that you can’t speak to someone about it. Talk to a trusted adult at home or at school.
2) Don’t reply to any nasty messages you receive.
3) Don’t reply to a text from someone you don’t know.
4) Keep the messages you have been sent so you can show them to a trusted adult and make a note of the time and date of the messages or calls you receive.
5) Don’t answer calls from withheld numbers or numbers you don’t recognise, let it go to voicemail.
6) Block numbers from people who are sending you nasty messages.
7) If you are bullied repeatedly can change your number.
8) Don’t give your mobile number to someone you don’t know.
9) Don’t send pictures to someone you don’t know.
10) If the problem is serious you can report it to the police, cyber mentors, or childline.
The following two articles will support everyone’s understanding:
Scare or Prepare and Think before you Scare. Paul Bradshaw offers the following top tips for helping parents and carers to keep children safe online:
1 Talk to your child about what they do online and get them to show you the apps and games they use
2 Encourage them to tell you if they see anything online that upsets them
3 Know who your child is talking to online
4 Set rules and agree boundaries
5 Make sure that content is age-appropriate
6 Help develop your child’s understanding of their digital footprint
7 Be vigilant!
Additional guidance for parent, carers and professionals:
The NSPCC offer a helpline to support parents about online issues and further guidance about inappropriate and explicit content.
The NSPCC also provide great advice to parents about a range of online safety issues and particularly when using social media.
The UK Safer Internet Site provides advice for parents about a range of online issues.
The UK Safer Internet Site also hosts links to other helplines:
POSH (Professionals Online Safety Helpline)
A Hotline for reporting and removing sexual images of children online
In light of the COVID 19 Situation, we are following this guidance:
Guidance for parents and carers:
As a parent you’ll know how important the internet is to children – they use it to learn, play, socialise and express themselves. It’s 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 bullying, contact from strangers or the possibility of them seeing illegal or inappropriate content.
Searching Online
Please note that no search engine is ever 100% safe but below provides some links to some “safer” search engines:
Research searching
Image searching
Online Links
Links to online resources that will help support parents and carers in keeping their children safe online.
https://www.childnet.com/resources/looking-for-kidsmart
https://www.internetmatters.org/
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