At school we believe that IT should be used as a means of enhancing learning and engaging pupils.  IT is not a subject within its own right; rather skills that are taught and then used across the entire curriculum. The aim is to equip children for living in the 21st century; this is realised when the learning environment is resourced with up-to-date technologies and staff have the knowledge and skills to use these effectively to move learning forward..

Within School:

pupils are taught about how to stay safe in our modern digital world and we understand the importance of Internet Safety. We follow the procedures as set out in our IT & Acceptable Use Policy. Everyone in our school is allowed to use the school ICT network as long as they have agreed to keep our Acceptable Use Rules. We are a National Online Safety Certified School. Staff regularly keep up-to-date with the latest information.

The person responsible for E-Safety is Ms C Speed
The Designated Safeguarding Officers in school are;
  • Mrs M Brewster (Headteacher)
  • Miss M Gray (Assistant Headteacher)
 

If you have any concerns about online safety please contact one of these members of staff. The CEOP website contains some really important information for parents and the Childnet site gives helpful guidance on social networking for parents. The SaferInternet site also provides advice on setting up parental controls on your home computer. The Common Sense Media site has great information to aid parents in keeping their children safe.

As parents you can help by:

  • having open discussions about your expectations and how to stay safe online
  • closely monitoring the sites your children are accessing
  • limiting the amount of time your allow your child to spend online or using gaming devices
  • discouraging the use of social network sites under the legal age of 13 such as Facebook, however, if your child does use social media remind them to only communicate with friends and family (people they know and trust in the real world), and also to ensure that their privacy settings are set high and to make them aware of how to report an incident if they feel uncomfortable.
  • ensuring they do not give out any personal details to people they meet online including on games consoles.
  • take notice of PEGI ratings – age rating is there for a reason and could mean that your child is being exposed to inappropriate materials if you do not abide by them.

Advice and Information for parents

The internet is an amazing resource which enables children and young people to connect, communicate and be creative in a number of different ways, on a range of devices. However, the internet is always changing, and being able to keep up to date with your children’s use of technology can be a challenge.

You may sometimes feel that your children have better technical skills than you do, however children and young people still need advice and protection when it comes to managing their lives online

Find out more about how to keep your family safe online with the UK Safer Internet Centre’s four steps:

  1. Have ongoing conversations with your children about staying safe online and why not use our family agreement? 
  2. Use safety tools on social networks and other online services, eg Facebook privacy settings, YouTube Restricted Mode
  3. Decide if you want to use parental controls on your home internet
  4. Understand devices and the parental control tools they offer in this Parents’ Guide to Technology

 

How to Deal with Concerns

If at any point you have any concerns about your child’s safety on line please talk with your child’s class teacher.  You can also report it to CEOP (a police led online crime and safety service) using this button: CEOP always recommend the following;

  • If you need urgent help, i.e, your child is in immediate danger such as meeting a stranger they have met online, then call 999.
  • Don’t delete any emails, images or conversations related to this report
  • Don’t contact the suspect yourself. Let us do the detective work

Most sites will have their own report buttons too or facility to block people and pages that cause you concern.How you can report an issue:

  • To report an incident of online abuse click on the ‘Report Abuse’ button
  • If you believe that a child under 13 is using Instagram you can report it here.
  • If you believe that a child under 13 is using Facebook you can report it here.

A useful and short video clip can be seen here to remind you of how to report things on the internet that might seem a bit strange or out of place and is well worth the 2 minutes it will take to watch it. A very useful checklist for parents can be found here.  It is full of ideas of how to keep your children safe whilst online. This is a guide to different ways you can start conversations about e-safety with your children – give it a go!  It was originally created for Safer Internet Day.

Cyber Bullying

Extremism and Radicalisation

Children can be exposed to materials on line that can have great effect on their view of the world. If you are concerned about how to help protect your child from exposure to views that could cause them harm please use the link below for further guidance. You can also use the CEOP button on every page on this site to report incidents.

More information about protecting your child from radicalisation online can be found here: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/reporting-abuse/dedicated-helplines/protecting-children-from-radicalisation/

Social Media

In addition to the sites above please download the following guidance on some of the many social media sites.  ***Also please remember that Social Media Sites (e.g. Facebook, You Tube, Twitter, Instagram etc) have a minimum age requirement of 13+ in their terms and conditions. Whats App and other internet based messaging services can only be used by 16 year olds and over.***

A useful and short video clip can be seen here to remind you of how to report things on the internet that might seem a bit strange or out of place and is well worth the 2 minutes it will take to watch it. A very useful checklist for parents can be found here.  It is full of ideas of how to keep your children safe whilst online. This is a guide to different ways you can start conversations about e-safety with your children – give it a go!  It was originally created for Safer Internet Day.

Help and Resources for Parents

Parental Controls

It is advisable to look at the website of your broadband provider or contact them as many of the large providers and restrictions and controls that you can put in place to restrict your child’s use of the internet in your home.  You can also action restrictions on individual devices.  Below are some links to relevant website which might assist you in this: Apple iOs (iphones, ipads etc) Samsung and android Windows

Websites

Google Firefox – Firefox has an add-on called ‘Fox Filter’ which can be applied. Internet Explorer does have parental/family settings. Please follow instructions below to set parental controls: To set controls:

  1. Open Internet Explorer
  2. Select “Tools” from the toolbar
  3. Select “Internet Options”
  4. Choose the “Content” tab
  5. Click “Enable”
  6. Adjust the slider to select the level you deem appropriate for your child
  7. Save changes

youtube

Online Safety Guidance sheets from National Online Safety