E-Safety
E-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 e-safety issues so they can learn to use the internet and all digital media in a safe and secure way.
What can I do, as a parent or carer, to help my child stay safe online?
1. Enable Parental Controls on your home internet.
2. Encourage your child to use 'Safe Search' search engines. http://www.safesearchkids.com/
3. Be aware of how your child is accessing the internet. Although the legal age requirement to have Facebook, Instagram and many other social media sites is 13, some children still access and use some or all of these.
Parents should also be aware of the many games, including X-Box live and Fotnite that allow children to communicate with others whilst gaming. 'Yoursphere' has some great advice about ensuring privacy settings are in place to keep your child safe whilst online.
4. Have regular conversations with your child about their use of the internet. Click the image below as it provides a simple way of getting the message of E-Safety across to your child
You can download a comprehensive guide covering many aspects of e-safety here:
Trafford Netware support
Netware is a parents’ guide to the social networks children and young people use. Please visit www.net-aware.org.uk for more information.
IS HOUSEPARTY SAFE? WHAT PARENTS NEED TO KNOW
With over 2 million downloads in just one week during the coronavirus outbreak, Houseparty is fast becoming the world’s favourite social media app, helping people to stay virtually connected during lockdown. But with privacy and cyberbullying concerns recently coming into light, the app has also come under scrutiny.
But exactly what is Houseparty and is it safe? To find out more click here
It's important to remember that the legal age to have an account on most social media - Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, Snapchat, TikTok - is 13 years old.
You can download the DofE advice for parents on cyberbullying here
You can access the DofE online parents support website called Parent Info here
At Home
As a parent you'll know how important the internet is to 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.
You can download a simple checklist here that may help you start to protect your children online and decrease the risks they face. Or you can 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
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 web and email is hugely worthwhile and an essential tool for children as they grow up in the modern world. But because there are always concerns about children having access to undesirable materials, we have taken positive steps to deal with this risk in school. Our school internet access provider operates a filtering system that restricts access to inappropriate materials.
At the start of the school year, each class discusses how we can all stay safe online and the dangers we may face on the internet. We also have E-Safety as an ongoing theme running through all our computing lessons and is the profile is also raised during E-Safety week in February. Each class signs up to an 'Acceptable Use of the Internet' agreement which ensures that each class has had a clear discussion about acceptable behaviours in relation to internet use.
ks1-acceptable-use highfield 2021-22.docx
ks2-acceptable-use Highfield 2021-22.docx
In addition, our staff sign up to an 'Acceptable Use of the Internet' agreement at the beginning of each academic year which highlights many of the ways we ensure the safety of pupils and staff in relation to the internet.
Acceptable use of the internet.docx
Parent Resources
To try and help parents with the fast moving and changing world of internet and social media we've suggested a few internet sites on the right of this page which are fantastic resources, They contain information on different types of social media and how to help keep children safe.
Childnet also produce a leaflet for parents which you can download here.
Parent Fact Sheets & Guides To Popular Social Media
Click on the following links to find some useful parental guides to the following social media
Smartphone Safe
If you would like to know more information on how to keep your child safe when they are using a smartphone here is a very useful and informative link here.
Other Internet Safety Resources
Childnet is a great website resource for parents and children on online safety. Click here to visit their website.
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.
