Online Safety
"Let Your Light Shine" Matthew 5:14-16
We live in a time when the internet, social media and apps are commonplace and used by many people. We need to ensure that our children are able to access age appropriate experiences but in a way which safeguards them from harm or being exposed to inappropriate or unacceptable things.
Children need to be taught how to access websites, chat based games etc, and use them responsibly. Children also need to be able to identify when something happens which is concerning and be confident to share their worries with an adult.
At St Lawrence Church of England Primary School we use materials from a variety of internet sites to support the work we do with the children. These sites have information for children, parents, staff and families which is very useful to share with your children to support their safe use of the Internet.
- https://www.net-aware.org.uk/news/8-tips-for-keeping-your-kids-safe-online-during-lockdown/
- https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/
- https://www.theeducationpeople.org/blog/online-safety-alerts-think-before-you-scare-updated-2019?mc_cid=425f4cf47b&mc_eid=01d0e0eb47
- https://safeblog.lgfl.net/2018/11/parents-scare-or-prepare/?mc_cid=425f4cf47b&mc_eid=01d0e0eb47
- https://www.esafety-adviser.com/latest-newsletter/
- tiktok-checklist roblox-checklist
- roblox-checklist
- https://www.o2.co.uk/help/online-safety
Online Safety Tips for Parents
Internet Matters have put together a guide for parents on how children can be supported to stay safe online. You can download the guide HERE
Internet Matters have also put together a presentation for parents on parenting in the digital world, this can be accessed below as a pdf file.
UK Safer Internet have created a family agreement to encourage safer usage of online platforms and an Instagram checklist to help ensure that if your child does have an account it is secure with good privacy settings. Both of these are available as pdf files below.
Alan McKenzie (Online Safety Guru) Newsletters
As a school we have paid for a subscription to Alan McKenzie's termly online safety newsletters. These are sent to parents by email but can also be found here.
#WakeUpWednesday
As part of our commitment to child protection and safeguarding at St Lawrence Primary School, we believe all parents, carers, teachers and trusted adults should be empowered with the information needed to have informed and age-appropriate conversations about online safety with children. That’s why, every Wednesday, we will be sharing with you a practical, easy to follow guide which will focus on specific risks we think you need to be aware of. This guide will be known as #WakeUpWednesday. Please find this week's guide below. We hope you will find these interesting and useful.
#WakeUpWednesday - 10th January 2024 - Free Speech vs Hate Speech
Report Harmful Content
The RHC button is an asset of SWGfL, a charity working internationally to ensure all benefit from technology, free from harm.
The button has been developed to offer anyone living in the UK a simple and convenient mechanism for gaining access to reporting routes for commonly used social networking sites, gaming platforms, apps and streaming services alongside trusted online safety advice, help and support. It also provides access to an online mechanism for reporting online harm to the RHC service for those over the age of 13 where an intial report has been made to industry but no action has been taken. RHC will review content in line with a sites' community standards and act in a mediatory capacity where content goes against these.
Children under 13 years of age are encouraged to tell an adult that they trust about what has happened and to ask for their help in reporting this going through our how we can help resource together.
RHC also have advice and links to reporting routes for other online harms people may come across or face, such as impersonation, privacy violations and intimate image abuse.
The RHC button provides a gateway to the RHC reporting pages, an area of the RHC website offering:
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links to reporting routes on commonly used sites for 8 types of online harm
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help, advice and support on what to do if experiencing or witnessing harm online
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signposting to industry partners reporting forms and the ability to reportlegal but harmful content directly to RHC for further investigation
Reporting to RHC
Reports can be made 24/7 through the online reporting forms and helpline practitioners will review and respond to reports within 72 hours between 10am and 4pm Monday to Friday.
Reports can be made to RHC by anyone over the age of 13. SWGfL operates 3 helplines and to be sure you're getting the right support take a look at the Helpline flowchart to find out who can best support you.
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Useful Internet sites for searching:
Swiggle.org.uk
Swiggle is a child-friendly search engine from the Online Safety experts at SWGfL. Designed to make searching the internet for images or content more than just a bit hit and miss. Swiggle can help you with your first steps on the road to better online searching.
Swiggle can be used on computers in school, and at home.
Find out more here: https://swiggle.org.uk
Kiddle
Kiddle is another 'child-friendly' search engine from America.
Ditto
Please find the latest edition of DITTO E-safety magazine can be found at the bottom of this page, please do try and take the time to read this if you can.
Please note - there are a lot of children talking about playing 'Fortnite' at home. Be advised that this is has a PEGI rating if 12 years and is not suitable for children under the age of 12 due to the violence within the game.
Another online game which is growing in popularity amonst children is the online game Among Us, please be aware the game does have a PEGI rating of 7 and is therefor unsuitable for anyone below this age. For more information to help your child stay safe whilst playing it, please follow the below link.
https://www.internetmatters.org/hub/news-blogs/is-among-us-multiplayer-game-safe-for-children/
Please check your child's usage of the internet and take action accordingly.