Online safety
Online safety is integral part of children’s education in today’s digital world and is embedded in their learning at Henhurst Ridge. Throughout the school year, we have regular online safety assemblies to remind children of the importance of keeping themselves safe. We revisit key safety messages so that our children are equipped with the necessary skills they need to stay safe online.
There is so much that children can access online, including playing games, chatting with others, watching TV or sharing our videos/photographs. Being online can be great but it’s important that we set boundaries for our children to keep them safe whist they explore being online, develop their digital resilience and understanding of what to do if anything negative happens when online.
E-Safety at Home
Online Safety
With more children than ever having access to the internet, it is crucial that we understand how to protect our children online. At the heart of this is helping children to understand how to protect themselves and manage the risks that they face when online. To help with this, we have put together a series of links that can provide you and your child with all the information you need to stay safe online:
Useful Websites
ThinkUKnow – The Thinkuknow website provides parents and children of all ages with the information that they need to stay safe online.
https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/
Childnet International – Through the childnet website, parents and carers can find invaluable information concerning online safety. Childnet resources will help you to understand the issues, set up parental controls on the internet services in your home and even provide conversation starters to help you talk about online safety with your child.:
https://www.childnet.com/parents-and-carers/have-a-conversation
NSPCC NetAware – Because it is difficult to keep up to date with all the latest in social media and online gaming, the NSPCC has developed the net aware tool. If you follow this link and type in the name of any social media site, net aware will tell you all you need to know about it.
https://www.net-aware.org.uk/
Safer Internet Centre – Safer internet day seeks to bring together parents and children to raise awareness of the risks children face online. Last year they were able to get their message across to 2.8 million children and 2.5 million parents.
https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/advice-centre/parents-and-carers
Hectors World – Hector’s World is a series of fun and engaging cartoons that teach 5-7 year old children all about how to stay safe online.
https://www.hectorsworld.com/
CEOP: Child Exploitation and Online Protection – CEOP is a national crime agency. If you have any serious concerns regarding the online safety of your child, you can click this link to make a formal report.
https://www.ceop.police.uk/safety-centre
Childline – Information for children on mental health
https://www.childline.org.uk/info-advice/your-feelings/mental-health
NSPCC – Tips and advice for parents including having conversations with children
https://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/keeping-children-safe/
Virgin Media Children’s Online Safety Test https://www.virginmedia.com/blog/online-safety/childrens-internet-safety-test/
Visit NSPCC’s Net Aware Guide for more information on how to make your child’s social media secure, on these and lots of other apps, sites and games.
Know how to set up Parental Controls / adapt settings
Parents and carers are encouraged to change the settings of the apps and online games that their children use, as to restrict the ways in which they could potentially be targeted by perpetrators. Many apps are public facing automatically and have to be manually set to ‘private’ for example.
Parental controls are software and tools which you can install on phones or tablets, games consoles or laptops – and even your home broadband. You can also use them to help you block or filter the content your child sees when searching online. And family-friendly public WiFi can help when you’re out and about.
Parental controls are also available to help you to:
- plan what time of day your child can go online and how long for
- stop them from downloading apps they’re too young for
- manage the content different members of the family can see
Indecent Images – Know the Law
Taking, making, sharing and possessing indecent images and pseudo-photographs (an image made by computer-graphics, which appears to be a photograph) of people under 18 is illegal. It doesn’t matter how old they look, looking at indecent images of under 18s is illegal.
The Home Office has published guidance to help young people understand the law on making and sharing indecent images of people under 18 years-old. There are also short films that demonstrate the serious harm that viewing indecent images of children can cause, including the Is She Legal? video.
Reporting Concerns
You can report online abuse through the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) website or the Internet Watch Foundation. Or report anonymously to Crimestoppers 0800 555111.
If a child is in immediate danger, dial 999 and ask to speak to police.
CEOP information for parents: Parents and carers | CEOP Education