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Online Safety
"The Internet is like water, its our job to teach our children how to swim!"
It's important to remember that the legal age to have an account on most social media platforms - Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, Snapchat - is 13 years old.
Online Safety is an integral part of children’s education in today’s digital world and is embedded in their learning at school. We also want to help our parents and children improve their own understanding of online safety issues so they can learn to use the Internet and all digital media in a safe and secure way.
Online Parents Meeting
Check out our latest Online Safety Parents Meeting for advice and guidance to keep your children safe online.
At Home
As a parent, you'll know how important the Internet is to our 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.
A good place to start is to 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
To try and help parents with the fast moving and changing world of the Internet and social media we've suggested a few useful websites that contain information on different types of social media and how to help keep children safe online.
There are a selection of helpful user guides on the most popular games and platforms at the bottom of this page.
Google Be Internet Legends - click here to explore the world of Interland and become an Internet legend!
National Online Safety Centre - The National Online Safety centre have produced a free app for parents.
Download for apple: hubs.ly/H0BwQjL0
Download for android: hubs.ly/H0Bx0tp0
Childnet is a great website resource for parents and children on online safety. Click here to watch an interactive video on how to keep your child safer online.
Think U Know has a great section for parents and covers topics such as gaming and talking to strangers. You can also search by topic or age range to find information that is relevant for your family. You can find the site here
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 Internet Matters.
You can access the DofE online parents support website called Parent Info here
Here are quick links to a range of Internet safety sites that you may find useful too...
At School
As part of your child’s curriculum and the development of computer skills, we provide access to the Internet only in teacher supervised lessons. We strongly believe that the use of the Internet is hugely worthwhile and an essential tool for children as they grow up in the modern world. As there are always concerns about children having access to undesirable materials, we have taken positive steps to deal with this risk in school. We educate our children in using the Internet safely, securely and responsibly. Our school Internet access provider, Trafford MBC, also operates a filtering system called Fortigate that restricts access to inappropriate materials. Alongside this we run monitoring software called Impero which monitors what the children access and type using the keyboards in the Digital Hub.
We teach a dedicated computing unit covering all aspects of our children's online safety from EYFS through to Year 6. This accompanies the strong messages and discussions that we embed into all our lessons when using technology.
As part of our Computing Curriculum we frequently visit the following websites:
- Google Classroom - https://classroom.google.com
- Purple Mash - https://www.purplemash.com
- Scratch - https://scratch.mit.edu
- Scratch Jnr - https://www.scratchjr.org
- Code Club - https://www.codeclub.org
- Code.org - https://www.code.org
- Tinker Cad - https://www.tinkercad.com/
- Be Internet Legends - https://beinternetlegends.withgoogle.com/en_ie/interland
Remote Learning
As every child starts at Seymour Park Primary School, we provide them with a Google GSuite account. This means that they are able to access a range of resources from Google including Google Classroom, Docs, Sheets and Slides to help with their learning throughout their time here. In addition, we use this platform for home (and remote if necessary) learning.
Please click here to look at Home Learning page which has all the information you need to get you started.
The school has access to all students' accounts and can block students' access to the Google GSuite if they do not act appropriately. With that in mind, please could you talk to you child about the importance of not using their username for any other use apart from logging onto Google Classroom. In addition, it is vital that they do not share their username or password with others. This way we can ensure that we are doing our utmost to keep our children safe online.
Questions...
If you have any questions or concerns or there are any other specific guides you'd like to see please contact school or Mr Tatham directly, we are here to help!
