Internet Safety
Information for Parents
The requirement to ensure that children and young people are able to use the internet and related communications technologies appropriately and safely is addressed as part of the wider duty of care to which all who work in schools are bound. Schools must, through their E-safety policy, ensure that they meet their statutory obligations to ensure that children and young people are safe and are protected from potential harm, both within and outside school.
This E-safety policy has been developed by Achievement Lead for Computing. The E-safety committee made up of:
- Child Protection/Safeguarding officer: Mrs Lauren Dean
- E-Safety Champion: Miss Cathy Lewis
- ICT Technical Support: South West Grid for Learning/Westcom
You can read our E-safety policy here:
Download a copy of the Internet Safety Policy
E-Safety is an important part of keeping children safe at King’s Park Academy. 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. E-Safety is taught to all pupils explaining and demonstrating how to stay safe and behave appropriately online. Any incidents are recorded and managed by the Safeguarding Officer and E-Safety Co-ordinator.
We can only be successful in keeping children safe online if we work with parents to ensure the E-Safety message is consistent. It is important that parents speak to their children about how they can keep safe and behave appropriately online.
Helpful websites for more information
It’s important to be realistic – banning the internet or technology will not work and it often makes a child less likely to report a problem. Education around safe use is essential.
https://www.internetmatterInternet Matters can help you with age specific questions, setting up parental controls and plenty of helpful tips and hints to help your child get the most from the digital world.
NSPCC - Online Safety
Please view the attached for advice from the NSPCC about using parental controls to block or filter content to help keep children safe online including information on how to set up parental controls on mobiles and tablets, home computers, search engines and games consoles.
To find out more, please click here:www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/parental-controls/
https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/ The NSPCC site has a wide range of resources and materials from advice streaming and online video games to internet specific short videos suited to a range of ages.
Managing your child’s screen time:
https://families.google.com/familylink/Google Family Link is a free service that is designed by Google to help parents keep track of what a child under the age of 13 is doing on an Android or iOS device, ranging from app installation to amount of time spent using any given app or time spent on the device overall.
If you are worried about online abuse or the way someone is communicating online, you can report it to:
https://www.ceop.police.uk/safety-centre/
How children can stay safe online:
It is really important that children learn how to keep themselves safe and how to behave in the digital world.
My Safety Net and Childnet are great sites that has loads of information, tips and activities to help you know and understand how to keep safe in the digital world, but also what to do to if something should go wrong.
Follow the link below:
https://www.childnet.com/young-people/4-11-year-olds/
Important tips to keep you safe on the internet
- Don’t post any personal information online – like your address, email address or mobile number.
- Think very carefully before posting pictures or videos of yourself. Once you’ve put a picture of yourself online most people can see it and may be able to download it, it’s not just yours anymore.
- Keep your privacy settings as high as possible.
- Never give out your passwords to ANYONE.
- Don’t befriend people you don’t know.
- Don’t meet up with people you’ve met online. Speak to your parent or carer if anyone is suggesting you do.
- Remember that not everyone online is who they say they are, and people can and will lie to get what they want.
- Think carefully about what you say before you post something online. Just like a picture, your words can be seen by others.
- Respect other people’s views, even if you don’t agree with someone else’s views doesn’t mean you need to be rude.
- If you see something online that makes you feel uncomfortable, unsafe or worried: leave the website, turn off your computer if you want to and tell a trusted adult immediately.