Online Safety Guides for Parents and Carers

Online Safety is always high on the agenda here at Holden Lane Academy. We have extensive security measures in place, which are constantly monitored both internally and externally, to prevent our pupils from coming into any potential danger or accessing unsuitable material whilst at school.

Lessons are taught from Reception upwards explaining and demonstrating how to stay safe online when using the internet and working with technology.

Online Safety encompasses Internet technologies and electronic communications. It highlights the need to educate pupils about the benefits and risks of using technology and safeguards our children by raising awareness to enable them to control their online experience. The school’s online safety policy will operate in conjunction with other policies including those for computing, Acceptable Internet Use Agreement, Behaviour, Bullying, Curriculum, Child Protection, Data Protection and Security.

As an Academy, we have assigned Digital Literacy Leaders who help to raise awareness and plan events and quizzes to continually teach and promote Online Safety. We have displays around our school and rules posted in all rooms to display appropriate use and how to stay safe. Our children are also informed that our network and their internet use will be monitored for safety purposes.

Internet Safety

At Holden Lane Academy, we take the issue of Internet Safety very seriously and on this page, you will find information that will support you as parents/guardians.

The internet is a fantastic resource, but it can also bring a lot of risk. We work with our pupils in school to help them understand the dangers and learn how to keep themselves safe.

All pupils are asked to sign an agreement on how they will use the Internet in school.

As a school, we highlight Online Safety during our Safer Internet Day, held annually, to make our pupils aware of all the dangers and to encourage them to be safe online.

Click here to go to the Safer Internet Day website for more information:

Your help is still needed to prevent children accessing inappropriate material at home by way of filters and parental controls. Look below at our extensive list of links and resources for Parents/Carers, Teachers and Young People to help you with your child’s online safety at home.

Childline

Removing images shared online – Guidance on how to get images removed that have been posted online.

LGfL PARENTSAFE

Keeping your children safe: online & beyond

YouTube

Parental Restrictions Guide

CEOP

https://www.ceop.police.uk/Safety-Centre/

The CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre) logo pictured here is on a lot of social networking sites. It is the Advice, Help and Report button. Clicking on it will take you to their website, where you can easily follow links for help if you are a parent or child. It is excellent, so please try it now!

Thinkyouknow

https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/

Highly recommended is the Thinkyouknow website. This is an education initiative by CEOP – the UKs national law enforcement agency that focuses on tackling sexual abuse of children.

Below are some quick links for parents to some key questions and Top Tips in their ‘Growing up online’ section.

Top Tips

What is my child doing online?

How do I talk to my child about what they’re doing online?

What risks might my child face?

What tools are there to help me keep my child safe?

Online safety game – 4 -7 year olds.

Childnet International

Childnet International – Guidance for Parents, Teachers and Young People

This contains detailed information regarding specific topics such as social networking, online grooming, gaming and downloading.

A simple and effective way to get involved with your children and their lives online is through discussion. Why not use our conversation starters for parents and carers to get the ball rolling? Click on the picture above.

CBBC Stay Safe

https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/findoutmore/stay-safe-facts

CBBC Stay Safe is a super internet survival guide for you and your child/ren. Here are the tips and tricks you’ll need to stay safe online, beat the cyber-bullies and become a super-surfer.

NSPCC Share Aware Campaign

Launched in January 2015, this campaign aims to raise awareness of how to help your child stay safe on social networks, apps and games. They have a useful guide to the social networks young people are using on their Net Aware website: http://www.net-aware.org.uk/

Links for Parents/Carers

• Ask About Games – Advice on computer gaming and how to apply parental controls
• Early Years e-safety– help introduce young children to the idea of internet safety
• Get Safe Online– Advice and guidance on Safety online
• Vodaphone Safety– Advice from Vodaphone
• Yahoo Safety Tips– Advice from Yahoo
• CBBC Safe search– Excellent Child friendly Search engine for Primary Schools
• NEN Image Gallery– for images to use in the classroom
• TeacherTube– Video Sharing website
• Edublogs– Blogging in Schools
• Easywhois– Useful website to check who registered/owns a website
• All about Explorers– Teaching children to evaluate reliability of online information.
• That’s Not Cool– advice on digital relations for KS2/3/4
• Windows family safety– Set up Windows safety controls.

Useful anti-bullying apps to keep your child safe online

https://www.kcom.com/home/discover/categories/tech-corner/top-10-anti-bullying-apps/

Visit Google’s Safety Centre to learn how to change Google’s search settings to SafeSearch filtering: http://www.google.co.uk/familysafety/tools.html

This setting is designed to screen sites with explicit sexual text and images that you don’t want your child to stumble across when browsing the internet.

Top Tips for Safer Surfing!

1. Remind your child that the internet is not a private space. Any information that your child puts online can be shared with anyone and may be used in a harmful way.
2. Keep communication open! Let your child know that it’s never too late to tell if something or someone is making them uncomfortable.
3. Teach your child to only open emails from people they know. Files may contain inappropriate images, content or viruses
4. Keep the computer somewhere in the house where it is easy for you to monitor what they are viewing.
5. Use internet filtering software and your browser’s control to offer the degree of security needed to protect your child.

What are the dangers and risks to my child from the internet?

You can download for free the report or its summary on the Department for Education website Information on the table was taken from “Safer Children in a Digital World” – a report by Dr Tanya Byron.

Did you know that Facebook requires users to be 13 years old before they can create their own account?

For more information about Safeguarding please visit:

www.safeguardingchildren.stoke.gov.uk