E-Safety
New technologies have become integral to the lives of children and young people in today’s society, both within schools and in their lives outside school.
The internet and other digital and information technologies are powerful tools, which open up new opportunities for everyone. These technologies can stimulate discussion, promote creativity and increase awareness of context to promote effective learning. However, the use of these new technologies can put young people at risk within and outside the school.
To ensure that children and young people are able to use the internet and related communications technologies appropriately and safely is incredibly important and therefore we have designed this page to give parents the help and guidance to keep the children of John Hampden School safe.
At Home
As a parent you’ll know how important the internet is to children – they use it to learn, play, socialise and express themselves. It’s a highly creative place of amazing opportunities. But the technology children use every day can seem a bit daunting and you might worry about the risks your child can face online – such as bullying, contact from strangers or the possibility of them seeing illegal or inappropriate content.
You can download a simple checklist here that may help you start to protect your children online and decrease the risks they face. Or you can engage with your children regarding their use of the internet while at home. Here are some conversation starter ideas from www.childnet.com
- 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 services 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
Parent Resources
To try and help parents with the fast moving and changing world of internet and social media we would like to suggest a few internet sites which are fantastic resources. They contain information on different types of social media and how to help keep children safe.
Childnet also produce a leaflet for parents which you can download here.
For safe use of the internet whilst home learning.
There is a great new online safety tool designed for parents launched by the Department for Education called Parent Info. It’s has advice on everything from keeping children safe from online trolls to WhatsApp – a guide for parents.
Childnet is a great website resource for parents and children on online safety.
Internet Matters is another great site to use – it has advice on cyberbullying, how to talk to your children about internet safety and quick guides to different types of social media such as Instagram and Snapchat. You can visit their pages here
This is an excellent website where you can search and find out more about the games, Apps or sites your children are using and see how safe these are.
Safe Searching
We encourage the children to use a children’s search engine to carry out research. One that we use in school is Kiddle and another is Swiggle.
You can view the latest DofE advice for parents on cyberbullying.
Other useful website:
https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/
http://internet-safety-2012.info/
This company is a cloud-based service that allows parents to easily manage family online activity. They recently came into school and delivered an excellent presentation to parents and children.
At School
As part of your child’s curriculum and the development of ICT skills, we provide access to the internet only in teacher supervised lessons. We strongly believe that the use of the web and email is hugely worthwhile and an essential tool for children 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 a filtering system that restricts access to inappropriate materials.
When your child starts at Tetsworth Primary School for the first time, they will bring home a Code of Conduct and permission form. We encourage you to read this through to discuss with your child, ensuring they understand the schools rules of internet safety.
At the start of the school year, each class will discuss how to stay safe online and the dangers we may face on the internet. The code of conduct will be referred to as a reminder of the schools expectations.
E-Safety Newsletter
To keep parents up to date with e-safety advice, we will send home newsletters.
