Children have the right to enjoy childhood online, to access safe online spaces, and to benefit from all the opportunities that a connected world can bring them, appropriate to their age and stage of development.

We believe it is vital that we give children the knowledge, understanding and skills which will equip them for digital life and to keep themselves and their personal information safe. Our developmental computing curriculum and online safety policy teaches children to be safe, healthy, and thriving online.

Our school and nurseries aim to: 

• Have robust processes in place to ensure the online safety of children, staff, volunteers, and governors.
• Deliver an effective approach to online safety, which empowers us to protect and educate the whole school community in its use of technology, including mobile and smart technology (which we refer to as ‘mobile phones’)
• Establish clear mechanisms to identify, intervene and escalate an incident, where appropriate

Our approach to online safety is based on addressing the following categories of risk:

1. Content – being exposed to illegal, inappropriate, or harmful content, such as pornography, fake news, racism, misogyny, self-harm, suicide, antisemitism, radicalisation and extremism.
2. Contact – being subjected to harmful online interaction with other users, such as peer-to-peer pressure, commercial advertising and adults posing as children or young adults with the intention to groom or exploit them for sexual, criminal, financial or other purposes.
3. Conduct – personal online behaviour that increases the likelihood of, or causes, harm, such as making, sending, and receiving explicit images (e.g., consensual, and non-consensual sharing of nudes and semi-nudes and/or pornography), sharing other explicit images and online bullying; and
4. Commerce – risks such as online gambling, inappropriate advertising, phishing and/or financial scams.

Using the internet safely in school               

Senso is a content filter system which provides us with peace of mind when children are using any school devise because it will be appropriately filtered and blocked from harmful and inappropriate content.

Senso lets teachers know that children are using their devices responsibly whilst ensuring that they are safe online. The teacher has a clear overview of what children are doing through our Live Thumbnail View, which gives the teacher a real time view of multiple screens being used by children.

Senso’s AI driven threat analysis detects if a child accesses or types of content which could be harmful or inappropriate.

As a parent you can be reassured that your child is safe when using electronic devices online when they are at school or nursery.

Using the Internet safely at home

Whilst many Internet service providers offer filtering systems to help you safeguard your child at home, it remains surprisingly easy for children to access inappropriate material including unsuitable texts, images, and movies. Parents and carers are advised to set the security levels within Internet Browsers with this in mind.

Locating the device to access the Internet in a family area will enable you to supervise children as they use the Internet. However, don’t deny your child the opportunity to learn from the wide variety of material and games available on the Internet. Instead, set some simple rules for keeping them safe and make sure they understand the importance of these rules.

Simple, suggested rules for keeping your child safe.

• ask your permission before they use the Internet.
• only use websites you have chosen together or a child friendly search engine.
• only email people they know (perhaps an address book would be useful)
• ask permission before opening an email sent by someone they don’t know.
• do not use Internet chat rooms.
• do not use their real name when using games on the Internet (perhaps encourage them to create a suitable nick name)
• never give out a home address or personal contact details
• never tell someone where they go to school.
• never send an image of themselves, their home or school
• never arrange to meet someone they have ‘met’ on the Internet.
• only use a webcam with people they know.
• ask them to tell you immediately if they see anything they are unhappy about.

Using these rules

Go through the rules with your child and ensure they understand what you suggest. It is also a good idea to regularly check the Internet sites your child is visiting e.g., by clicking on ‘History’ and ‘Favourites’. Please reassure your child that you want to keep them safe rather than take Internet access away from them.

Please click here to view information shared at one of our parents workshops

Below are links to some free online expert advice specifically for parents on how to support children in the digital world.

WWW.NSPCC.co.uk

WWW.thinkuknow.co.uk                                            

WWW.ceop.police.uk                          

 WWW.childnet.com

ChildLine

ChildLine 08001111: get help and advice about a wide range of issues, talk to a counsellor online, send ChildLine and email or post on the message boards on the link below:

www.childline.org.uk

Cyber-bullying

Cyber bullying is any form of bullying which takes place online or through smartphones and tablets. Social networking sites, messaging apps, gaming sites and chat rooms such as Facebook, Xbox Live, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, and other chat rooms can be great fun and a positive experience, but they can be used as platforms to upset and bully individuals.

Tips and advice

• If you post abuse about anyone else online or if you send threats, you can be traced by the police without any difficulty. Every time you visit a website or make a post, your internet service provider, Sky, BT or Virgin, has an electronic note of your activity. Even if you create an anonymous email address, you can still be traced.
• Keep safe by using unusual passwords. Use a combination of letters, lowercase, uppercase, symbols and numbers. Don’t use any part of your name or email address and don’t use your birth date either because that’s easy for people who know you to guess. Don’t let anyone see you signing in and if they do, change the password as soon as you can.
• If you are using a public computer such as one in a library or computer shop, be sure to sign out of any web service you are using before leaving the computer so that you can protect your privacy.
• Being bullied online can affect someone enormously. Being bullied can impact on a person’s self-esteem, confidence, and social skills. Try to consider the impact your words may have and think twice before posting.
• Think twice before you post anything online because once it’s out there you can’t take it back.

Social Media

The more you know about the kind of social networking sites your children belong to and what information they like to share, the more likely you’ll be able to keep them safe:

• The age limit to join most social networking sites is 13.
• The most popular social networks include Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, TikTok and Snapchat; sites aimed at younger children, like Club Penguin and Moshi Monsters, also have a social networking element.
• Many sites include an instant message function that allows private conversations between members.
• You can create ‘privacy settings’ on most social networking sites, so only close friends can search for your children, tag them in a photograph or share what they post.
• Most social networking sites have an app, which means your children will have access to the social network from their (or your) smartphone or tablet.
• Information shared between friends can be easily copied and may spread widely.
• It isn’t easy to take back information once it’s online, and it can be impossible to recover after someone has shared it.
• Not everyone your child meets online will be who they say they are.
• Chat rooms and forums are one of the places that online groomers visit to connect with children; they can also be places where people use a lot of sexual language and engage in online flirting.