Online Safety
Online Safety is an ever growing and changing area of interest and concern. The internet and related technologies, including mobile devices such as phones, gaming media, tablets, and watches, are developing rapidly and are integral to the daily lives of our students.
Many of these technologies are used to enable students to engage creatively with their learning. Socially, our students often use the internet for entertainment, interaction and communication with ‘friends’ – bringing about new risks which many adults were never faced with. It has never been more important for parents and carers to understand how their children use the internet and associated technologies, so that they can help to manage the risks that exist and reinforce the important online safety messages that we should all be promoting.
You can also find out more about how children use social media, the apps they use, the risks they face, how to use privacy settings, and advice and tips about how to talk to your children, at:
- www.childnet.com/sns
- www.internetmatters.org
- www.nspcc.org.uk/onlinesafety
- www.parentzone.org.uk
- www.askaboutgames.com
Where can I go to get support to help keep my child safe online?
There is a lot of support available to keep your child safe online.
Below are some useful links to help parents and carers:
- Thinkuknow (advice from the National Crime Agency to stay safe online)
- Internet matters (support for parents and carers to keep their children safe online)
- Parent info (support for parents and carers to keep their children safe online)
- LGfL (support for parents and carers to keep their children safe online)
- Net-aware (support for parents and carers from the NSPCC)
- Childnet offers a toolkit to support parents and carers of children of any age to start discussions about their online life, to set boundaries around online behaviour and technology use, and to find out where to get more help and support
- Let’s Talk About It has advice for parents and carers to keep children safe from online radicalisation
- UK Safer Internet Centre has tips, advice, guides and other resources to help keep children safe online, including parental controls offered by home internet providers and safety tools on social networks and other online services
- SafetyDetectives – Parents’ Guide for Safe YouTube and Internet Streaming for Kids.
Checklists
To view further information from the Safer Internet Centre CLICK HERE
