Online Safety
Online Safety is an important part of keeping children safe at The John Wesley CE Primary School. We have extensive security measures in place in school, which are monitored both internally and externally, to help safeguard pupils from potential dangers or unsuitable material. Any online safety incidents are recorded and managed in accordance with our Online Safety Policy which can be found below and on our policy page. Online safety is taught to all pupils to explain and demonstrate how to stay safe and behave appropriately online. It is taught in Computing lessons and through P.S.H.E. lessons.
We can only be successful in keeping children safe online if we work with parents to ensure the Online Safety message is consistent. It is important that parents speak to their children about how they can keep safe and behave appropriately online.
We have one principle message for our children to keep them safe;
“If you see or read anything online that worries you or upsets you in any way, tell an adult you trust.”
If you’re wondering how you can help your children to enjoy the internet and keep them safe at the same time, you’re certainly not alone. Many parents find it a challenge. But with toddlers taking to touch screens like ducks to water and so many education and entertainment opportunities online, it’s vital that you take action early on. By setting boundaries and offering support from the moment they first log on, you can help your children to thrive in the digital world.
Parents and carers need to be aware of ever changing new technologies and trends in order to better educate our children how to protect themselves. We have gathered information on this reference page for you to browse expert websites for the latest updates, watch a few of the Online Safety awareness videos and explore technology articles below. If any of these raise concerns you’d like to know more about, then please do come in to see one of the DSLs.
How can you safeguard your children online and guide them to be web-SMART?
UK Safer Internet Centre
Haven’t got time to browse through everything and want to go to one site, then click on the Childnet International UK Safer Internet Centre.
| UK Safer Internet Centre: The European Commission appointed UK Safer Internet Centre is made up of three partners; Childnet International, the South West Grid for Learning and the Internet Watch Foundation. Together we raise awareness about internet safety, develop information materials and resources and organise high profile events such as Safer Internet Day. You can access a range of resources from across the UK, Europe and wider afield at www.saferinternet.org.uk/parents |
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Childnet International: Childnet International is a non-profit organisation working in partnership with others around the world to help make the internet a great and safe place for children. The Childnet website hosts all the online resources detailed below, as well as a number of recommended resources for young people, parents, carers and teachers. The Parents and Carers area also contains key advice, information on reporting and detailed information on a range of e-safety topics in the Hot topics section. www.childnet.com |
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South West Grid for Learning: The South West Grid for Learning (SWGfL) is a not for profit, charitable trust dedicated to the advancement of education through information and communication technologies. They provide safe, supported broadband internet, teaching and learning services for 2,500 schools in the South West of England and e-safety education and training regionally, nationally and internationally. They provide professionals, parents and children with advice, resources and support to use internet technologies safely to enhance learning and maximise potential. www.swgfl.org.uk |
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Internet Watch Foundation:The Internet Watch Foundation is the UK’s hotline for reporting illegal content found on the internet. It deals specifically with child abuse and criminally obscene images hosted in the UK and internationally. The IWF works in partnership with the online industry, law enforcement, government, and international partners. It is a charity and a self-regulatory body with over 100 Members from the online industry. www.iwf.org.uk |
Safer Internet Day
Safer Internet Day: Celebrated globally every year, Safer Internet Day offers the opportunity offers the opportunity to highlight positive uses of technology and to explore the role we all play in helping to create a better and safer online community. It calls upon young people, parents, carers, teachers, social workers, law enforcement, companies, policymakers, and wider, to join together and play their part for a better internet. Ultimately, a better internet is up to us! www.saferinternetday.org.uk
Factsheets/ Information for Parents & Carers
The internet is an integral part of children’s lives, enabling them to undertake research for school projects, develop problem solving skills through strategy adventure games and access information, which allows the opportunity to learn from the wide variety of material and games available on the internet.
Setting some family safeguards and agreeing online Safety rules will help children understand the importance of keeping safe and ensure they know they can always talk to you or a trusted adult, such as a teacher, if they see anything that makes them feel uncomfortable.
- It is advised for parent/carers to locate the computer children have access to in a family area, not a bedroom, to supervise children as they learn what “appropriate use” really means.
- It is recommend a responsible adult sets their browser home page to a recommended ‘Safe Search Engine‘ and checks websites to ensure they are age and content appropriate. Child friendly search engines apply higher level filtering systems to help you safeguard your child at home, however no site is guaranteed ‘safe’. Such as: NICE for Primary Schools, Primary School ICT, Pics4Learning, or CBBC Safe Search (only searches approved BBC content)
- Browser Settings; Pay particular attention to image advertisements as they can change each time the web page is accessed, and for this reason parents and carers are advised to set the security levels within a browser, such as Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox, with appropriate levels of security
- For secure online learning environments, such as username membership sites, please set the url site address as a ‘Trusted Site’ (security settings) in your browser’s Tools/Internet Options
- What may be considered a safe site today might not be tomorrow. NSPCC Net Aware is your online guide to the social networks your kids use, visit it periodically to keep up to date with the latest digital trends to keep you child safe in today’s online world. Parent Info provides expert information from CEOP and Parent Zone on a range of topics, such as Under 13s and Social Media and vLogging (making video blogs, known as ‘vlogs’ on YouTube)
| Supporting Young People Online: A free guide created by Childnet providing Information and advice for parents and carers on supporting young people online. The advice is also available in 12 additional languages including Arabic, Hindi, Polish, Spanish, Urdu and Welsh. www.childnet.com/resources/supporting-young-people-online |
| Information and Advice for Foster Carers/Adoptive Parents: The UK Safer Internet Centre has worked together with Islington Council to create leaflets for foster carers and adoptive parents. The leaflets, which are free to download and easy to print, include top tips and conversation starters to help foster carers and adoptive parents get to grips with internet safety. www.saferinternet.org.uk/fostering-adoption |
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Keeping Young Children Safe Online: Children love using technology and are learning to navigate websites, online games and consoles, and touch screen technology like iPads and smartphones from a younger and younger age. This advice contains top tips for parents and carers for keeping young children safe online. Information Leaflets TikTok TikTok is becoming a popular app with teenagers and some primary school aged children. There’s a good chance that even if you haven’t heard of it, your children will have. It is a fun way to create short videos which can be edited and shared with almost anybody, bringing endless entertainment. But is TikTok safe? Could children be at risk from other users? Find out with the attached guide. It has been in the BBC News in recent weeks.
Created by experienced writer Pete Badh, this guide explores the main features that make TikTok so addictive and the key themes that you as parents need to know about. The guide also provides a number of useful tips for you to consider around providing a safer user experience for your children. |
Where to Report/ Get Help
Need Help?: Information about what to do if a child comes to you for help and advice about how to report online concerns such as cyberbullying, inappropriate content or illegal behaviour. www.saferinternet.org.uk/need-help
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Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP): A police agency tackling child abuse on the internet. This website includes a unique facility that enables parents and young people to make reports of actual or attempted abuse online. www.ceop.police.uk CEOP’s website contains information for children and parents, as well as a link for children to report abuse online. www.thinkuknow.co.uk |
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Internet Watch Foundation: Part of the UK Safer Internet Centre, the IWF is the UK’s hotline for reporting illegal content found on the internet. It deals specifically with child abuse and criminally obscene images hosted in the UK and internationally. www.iwf.org.uk |
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NSPCC: If you have concerns about the safety of a child then contact the NSPCC helpline on 0808 800 5000 or email help@nspcc.org.uk. Children can talk to someone for advice and support at any time by contacting ChildLine on 0800 1111 or chatting to a counsellor online at www.childline.org.uk |
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Family Lives:A national family support charity providing help and support in all aspects of family life. Useful advice and information is available online at www.familylives.org.uk and they provide a free confidential helpline on 0808 800 2222. |
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True Vision: Online content which incites hatred on the grounds of race, religion and sexual orientation can be reported to True Vision; a UK website set up to tackle all forms of hate crime, including those on the grounds of disability and transgender identity. www.report-it.org.uk |
Parental Controls
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A recent campaign called Internet Matters funded by four of the UK’s leading Internet Service Providers (ISPs) – BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media – provides guidance covering the introduction of their ‘whole-home’ parental controls. www.saferinternet.org.uk/advice-and-resources/parents-and-carers/parental-controls Setting up ‘Parental Controls’ to help prevent age inappropriate content being accessed in the home and on mobile devices. |
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https://www.internetmatters.org/parental-controls/smartphones-and-other-devices/ Children are using devices at a younger age so it’s important to consider setting controls on their tech, or on any devices that you are letting them borrow from you. The Internet Matters team have pulled together a number of guides to give you simple steps to set controls on a range of devices. |
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https://www.vodafone.com/about/operating-responsibly/child-online-safety Vodaphone’s Parents has the most comprehensive set of parental control step by step instructions, and up to date guidance support websites that I can highly recommend. Please do read their quarterly ‘Digital Parenting’ magazine, I’ll be shocked if you aren’t amazed by some of the articles – quite enlightening! The ‘Get Started‘ checklist by age page is essential to help parents establish reasonable boundaries and guidance from as early as under 5’s; moving on to 6 to 9’s, 10 to 12’s and 13+ age groups. |
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https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/ NSPCC Net Aware is your online guide to the social networks your kids use, visit it periodically to keep up to date with the latest digital trends to keep you child safe in today’s online world. |
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Parent Info provides expert information from CEOP and Parent Zone on a range of topics, such as Under 13s and Social Media and vLogging (making video blogs, known as ‘vlogs’ on YouTube). |
Our recommendation is to return here periodically and revisit the above websites to keep up to date with changing digital trends and parental guidance. Although any help guide and pdf information sheet can be out of date within mere weeks of publishing with many hand-held devices, gaming console or social networking sites updating their services so frequently, please check for updates on the different websites.
MAKE the most of tools like Parental Controls on computers, mobiles and games consoles, privacy features on social networking sites, and safety options on Google and other search engines, why not visit Google’s Family Safety Centre website for lots more information.
We would like to thank Childnet.com for generously granted permission to use their Parent Factsheet information on our school website.