Computing
Online Safety
At Acle St Edmund Primary School, we consider the on-line safety of our children to be extremely important. Some of the issues you may be aware of surrounding internet use for children and young adults are as follows:
- Staying safe online – content, contact & conduct
- Cyberbullying
- Social networking
Through our timetabled computing curriculum, we tackle these important issues with children in lessons. Each year group covers an age appropriate e-safety unit of work during the academic year and children are reminded of these principles throughout the year through events such as ‘Safer Internet Day’.
Our school internet is filtered and children are appropriately supervised during internet use. Children are taught how to search safely, effectively, respectfully & responsibly. This involves thinking about appropriate key words to use and only visiting recognised sites. They are taught what action to take if they do see something upsetting such as telling an adult immediately.
At home, children may have access to the web from many different devices, they often have tablets, mobile phones, games consoles and other Wi-Fi-enabled devices. It’s important to be aware of this and the best way to ensure their safety is to make sure that your child is supervised whilst having such access. With many of these devices they are able to access inappropriate sites & games, and may also be able to communicate with strangers online. Some devices do have the ability to impose parental controls.
If you are at all unsure as to the suitability of various platforms, games or films, you can check them out here. This site rates them for content & gives minimum age guidance.
Many parental guides are also available on the Common Sense Media website.
Childnet also have lots of useful materials for parents and games for children of all ages.
It’s important to talk openly with your children about staying safe online – just as it is about crossing the road and stranger-danger. Discuss potential issues and what to do if anything happens. We would want children to tell an adult immediately, but how you respond to this is very important. Whilst it would be tempting to ban children from using devices, is not necessarily the right course of action as it may discourage them from telling in future. They may also start using them outside of the home where you are not aware or supervising their use.
Useful Links
https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/
https://www.betterinternetforkids.eu/
Safety Features on Social Networks
Online Safety BOOST Presentations - parent’s presentation
Vodafone Digital Parents Magazine
Childnet Webpages for Parents & Carers
Get Safe Online - resources for parents
Teach Today - resources for parents workshops/education