Internet safety
Advice for parents and carers.
E-Safety
E-Safety is an important part of keeping children safe at Cheddar Grove Primary School . 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.
Any e-safety incidents are recorded and managed appropriately. E-Safety is taught to all pupils explaining and demonstrating how to stay safe and behave appropriately online.
Mr Cox is our E-Safety Lead and should be contacted if you have any concerns.
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.
As a school we follows a set of rules called the SMART Rules:
The SMART Rules are explained in the video below:
It’s essential 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.
E-Safety Top Tips for Parents
- Keep the computer in a family area not in the child’s bedroom.
- Use ‘child lock’ or filter settings on your Web browser to help prevent unsuitable site access by your child.
- Regularly supervise the sites your child is visiting.
- Encourage your child to use their Favourites list to access the sites you have approved to prevent accidental entry to unsuitable sites.
- Discourage your child from using social Networking sites e.g. MSN, Facebook, Bebo etc. to keep them safe from cyber bullying.
- Teach your child to switch the monitor off or close the laptop lid, then fetch or tell you if something unsuitable appears on the screen. This is what we do in school.
- Agree with older children what sites they are allowed to access.
- Keep all personal details private and be aware of stranger danger.
- Above all, encourage your child to talk to you about the web sites and electronic devices they are using at home and school.
Social Networking
One of the fastest growing areas of internet use today is social networking. There are over 3,000 social networking sites on the internet. This is changing the way that we communicate. On most of these sites, it is incredibly easy to communicate with our friends, in many cases, sharing lots of personal information and photographs.
These common social network sites all have age limits:
- Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and Skype have an age limit of 13.
- MySpace set their limit at 14.
- YouTube requires account holders to be 18, but a 13-year-old can sign up with a parent’s permission.
Keep Your Child Safe on TikTok
There are some things to remember when you are surfing the internet:
- Treat your password like your toothbrush – keep it to yourself!
- Keep your home address, your phone number or email address off the internet, MSN and chat rooms.
- Learn to report someone who is behaving badly.
- Save the evidence – learn to save emails or on-line conversations.
- Don’t retaliate or reply.
- Always respect others – think carefully about what you are typing.
- Tell someone you trust if you see something that worries or upsets you.
- Remember what you have learned in school – use that at home.
Search engines
Please note that no search engine is ever 100% safe but below provides some links to some “safer” search engines:
Research searching
Google offers a safer search option for children searching on the Internet. You can find out how to do this by downloading the instructions at the bottom of the page.
Image searching
Gaming
When children are accessing games via Xbox LIVE, privacy settings can be set up. To read more, click here.
Websites for more information
Please click on the icon to go to the relevant site
CEOP (The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre) delivers a multi-agency service dedicated to tackling the abuse and exploitation of children in the real and ‘e’ world. Often it is referred to as an online 999. By clicking on the button, young people and parents can get advice on a range of issues such as viruses, hacking and dealing with bullying online.
Vodafone have produced a Digital Parenting Magazine which informs parents about the various technologies children are accessing today. There is information on Facebook settings, Xbox 360 settings, Blackberry settings, jargon busting and many more ‘How to Guides’. They are well worth a read and some are attached below for you to download.
The “Thinkuknow” website is brought to you by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) centre.
Kidsmart gives you lots of advice on how to stay safe online.
New e-Safety Portal for Parents and Schools – Internet Matters
Internet Matters is a new online portal designed for parents to access simple, easy and practical advice about online safety for their children, right through from pre-school to teens. It provides tips on protecting children from online grooming, cyberbullying, privacy andidentity theft and inappropriate content. Internet Matters is a not-for profit organisation set up by BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media.
ParentINFO is a collaboration between ParentZone and CEOP. There are useful guides and articles on helping your child stay safe online.
Stop, Speak, Support – Cyberbullying guidance for kids | Internet Matters
New code helps children tackle cyber-bullying. Created by young people for young people, the code offers simple steps to take positive action to deal with cyber-bullying
Childnet – An international charity supporting children and parents and carers to develop a safe and great internet for children
Bullying UK – Information and advice about bullying for children, parents and schools.
Kidscape – An organisation which helps to prevent bullying and child abuse.
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CHEDDAR GROVE PRIMARY SCHOOL
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