Keeping children Safe!

Suggested Online Safety Websites from the Department for Education

• Internet matters - for support for parents and carers to keep their children safe online
• London Grid for Learning - for support for parents and carers to keep their children safe online
• Net-aware - for support for parents and careers from the NSPCC
• Parent info - for support for parents and carers to keep their children safe online
• Thinkuknow - for advice from the National Crime Agency to stay safe online
• UK Safer Internet Centre - advice for parents and carers

Being safe online is extremely important and something that we ensure is taught across the school.  Children are confident using a range of different technologies but it is essential they use it safely.  

Using the Internet safely at home

Whilst many Internet Service Providers (ISPs) offer filtering systems to help you safeguard your child at home, it remains surprisingly easy for children to access inappropriate material including unsuitable texts, pictures and movies. Parents are advised to set the security levels within Internet browsers with this in mind. Locating the computer or tablet in a family area, not a bedroom, will enable you to supervise children as they use the Internet. However, don’t deny your child the opportunity to learn from the wide variety of material and games available on the Internet. Instead, set some simple rules for keeping them safe and make sure they understand the importance of these rules.

Simple rules for keeping your child safe:

• Ask permission before using the Internet
• Only use websites you have chosen together or a child friendly search engine.
• Only email people they know (why not consider setting up an address book?)
• Ask permission before opening an email sent by someone they don’t know
• Do not use Internet chat rooms
• Do not use their real name when using games on the Internet (create a nick name)
• Never give out a home address, phone or mobile number
• Never tell someone where they go to school
• Never arrange to meet someone they have ‘met’ on the Internet
• Only use a webcam with people they know
• Ask them to tell you immediately if they see anything they are unhappy with.

Using these rules

Go through the rules with your child and put them near the computer. It is also a good idea to regularly check the Internet sites your child is visiting e.g. by clicking on History and Favourites. Please reassure your child that you want to keep them safe rather than take Internet access away from them.

Talking to your children about staying safe online

Recently Ofsted produced a useful ‘Online Safety Webinar’ for parents and schools. The webinar focuses on the work of the Breck Foundation. This foundation is a self-funding charity, raising awareness of playing safe whilst using the internet. It was established following the death of a young boy called Breck who was groomed online.

The webinar lasts for around 1 hour. For parents who are short on time we would recommend that the first 23 minutes are watched, after that Ofsed focus on what schools and inspectors can do to keep children safe.

Gaming

Things you can do to keep your child safe online:

• check your parental controls on your PC to stop then accessing inappropriate material;
• have a conversation, discuss sites and apps together, talk about any concerns they may have;
• talk about personal information and what not to share online;
• is your child accessing social networks? Most of these have an age limit of 13+
• Is your child playing computer games, check the age limit here

Other resources

As well as the Breck Foundation website, the NSPCC website  provides further resources and links on how to keep your child safe online.  Live My Digital, is an educational site aimed at families. The site has links to a video series which covers the following online safety themes:

• Cyberbullying
• The digital footprint
• Identity and self-esteem
• Relationships and grooming
• Security and privacy