Online Safety
The internet has changed all of our lives, particularly our children’s. For parents and carers this opens up a whole new world of things to be aware of. For many of us, this can all be a bit too much.
You might be struggling to keep up with the things your child is doing online, you might wonder whether what they are doing is safe, and you might also be thinking how can I be as good a parent online as I am offline?
This part of our website aims to make online parenting simple and give you practical tips and guidance. In addition if there is something you would like advice with, please talk a member of staff who can assist you. Mrs Harris takes overall responsibility for online safety as the designated safeguarding lead and is support by Miss Valentine, our computing lead and Mr Woods, our network manager.
Online safety is an important part of keeping children safe at Kings Hill 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 online safety incidents are recorded and managed in accordance with our online safety policy.
E-Safety Presentation to Parents
Online Safety is taught to all pupils explaining and demonstrating how to stay safe and behave appropriately online.
We can only be successful in keeping children safe online if we work with parents to ensure the Online Safety message is consistent. It is important that parents speak to their children about how they can keep safe and behave appropriately online.
The school is protected by Impero, please click the link above to find out more.
Search engines
Please note that no search engine is ever 100% safe but below provides some links to some “safer” search engines:
Research searching
Image searching
Websites for more information
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.
The “Thinkuknow” website is brought to you by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) centre.
Chilldnet offer plenty of advice on how to stay safe online.
Online Safety Information for Parents and Carers
Information, Advice and Support to Keep Children Safe Online (internetmatters.org) is a 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 and identity theft and inappropriate content. Internet Matters is a not-for profit organisation set up by BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media. There are very useful step by step guides on setting parental controls on gaming platforms, APPs and devices.
Parents & carers | Childnet this website from Childnet incudes resources and advice pages for parents and carers.
Parents and Carers Toolkit | Childnet The Childnet parent and carer toolkit includes the 'Let's talk about life online' resource sheet and a family agreement which may help manage your chidld's time on their devices.
Common Sense Media: Age-Based Media Reviews for Families | Common Sense Media this database gives reviews of a wide range of games and APPs from parents and children so that you can research content.
Family Gaming Database - Guides, Ratings and Suggestions - Family Gaming Database (taminggaming.com) this database chooses appropriate games for your child based on their age and gaming preferences.
Simple rules for keeping your child safe
To keep your child safe they should:
- Ask permission before using the Internet
- Only use websites you have chosen together or a child friendly search engine.
- Only email people they know (why not consider setting up an address book?)
- 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 (create a nick name)
- Never give out a home address, phone or mobile number
- Never tell someone where they go to 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 with.
Using these rules
Go through the rules with your child and pin them up near the computer. 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.
Digital Leaders
With the ever expanding web, we decided to create our very own Digital Leaders club. Our job is to make sure that we are thinking about the positive in we are having when using the internet.
As part of our meetings we discuss the importance of being safe on the internet and how we can help others so they feel safe and confident when using the internet. This includes discussing new apps, games and websites.
We have joined the Childnet Digital Leaders Programme and are very excited. The Digital Leader team are taking part in a pupil-led online safety programme.
This will enable us to have access to Childnet’s online platforms for primary schools, giving young people opportunities to increase their knowledge, achieve recognition and collaborate with digital leaders in schools across the UK.
