With technology usage even more prevalent at this time, online safety is a vital part of children’s life and education in today’s ever-growing digital world and is rooted in their computing curriculum at our school.

As a school, we feel that engaging and supporting parents and children improve their own understanding of  online safety issues is of great importance, so they can learn to use and support each other when using the internet and all digital media, in a safe and secure way.

At School:

As part of the wider curriculum, access to the internet is given to the children in teacher supervised lessons and is strictly monitored to protect this.

We strongly believe that the use of the Internet and email is hugely worthwhile and an essential learning tool for our pupils 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 the Lightspeed filtering system that restricts access to inappropriate materials. Children are also educated through the Computing curriculum on how to report any inappropriate material. All children in school are encouraged to follow the SMART rules to keep themselves safe online.

At Home:

It is clearly evident how important being online is to children at home – they go online to learn, play, socialise and express themselves. It’s a highly creative place of amazing opportunities and an excellent learning tool. However, the technology children use every day can seem complicated at times and you may worry about the risks your child can face online – such as cyber-bullying, contact from strangers or the possibility of them seeing or hearing illegal or inappropriate content.

Creating a comfortable environment and creating a place for dialogue to discuss any of these issues is a great starting point, a child knowing they can approach you about these issues is more likely to speak out about them. To support you with this here are a few things you can do:

• 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 devices and apps/games that 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?.

For further help, Here are some conversation starter ideas from www.childnet.com