Online Safety

E-Safety is an important part of keeping children safe at Acres Hill Community 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 e-Safety incidents are recorded and managed. E-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 e-Safety message is consistent. It is important that parents speak to their children about how they can keep safe and behave appropriately online.

It’s essential to be realistic - banning the internet or technology will not work and it often makes a child less likely to report a problem. Education around safe use is essential.

If you become aware of your child using an app that you feel is inappropriate or worries you in any way, please contact the school and we can then inform other parents in order to keep all our children safe.

The apps identified below are ones that we know children use regularly however they are all rated 13+ or older and therefore none of our primary age children should be using these. In order to give you greater control we have added the following information. We must remind you that using age inappropriate apps puts your child at risk.

Social Media

Keeping up with and supervising your children’s online activity can be challenging, especially when they have their own computers, smart phones, tablets and gaming consoles. 

Although many social media apps have been created for fun and social reasons they all have security issues;

• Location settings are often turned on as default,
• Messages can be sent to and received by people who are not your ‘friends’
• Age inappropriate advertising is targeted to account holders due to the much older than primary school age (13+) age limit that is required.

Many children use these kind of apps responsibly and safely, however there have been incidents that we have either been made aware of or had to deal with in school and these have increased over the last 3 years. In school we talk a lot about internet safety, how to keep your personal details safe and use technology and social media responsibly, and we know that many parents do the same with their children at home too.

However, questions that may be worth you considering the answers to are:

• Do I know what technology / social media my child is using?
• Has my child set up the necessary security features on the apps they are using?
• Are they using them safely and responsibly?
• Is it appropriate for my child to be using this app?

Internet Matters have put together a very useful resource page on their site with lots of advice and tips. Click here to be sent to the Social Media Advice Hub.

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.

Internet Matters is a new 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.

ParentINFO is a collaboration between ParentZone and CEOP.  There are useful guides and articles on helping your child stay safe online.

Keeping children and young people safe online is one of the biggest challenges facing society today and it is all of our responsibility to ensure that children are educated to make positive, informed choices when they are online.

e-safety adviser is a website with useful resources and tips to keep children safe online.

Please read A 'Guide to Parental Controls' booklet in the documents section above for help and advice on how to keep children and young people safe online.

How to report online safety concerns

If you or your child has seen something online that is illegal, upsetting or harmful, then it is always best to report it. You can also report something that may be legal but is still considered harmful such as content that includes bullying, impersonation, online abuse, threats, violence or inappropriate content across non-adult sites.

Use the links below for more advice on how to report online safety concerns

NSPCC

CEOP 

'Safer' search engines

Please note that no search engine is ever 100% safe but below provides some links to some “safer” search engines:

Search engines

Wiki Kidz Search

Research searching

Google offers a safer search option for children searching on the Internet. You can find out how to do this by downloading the instructions at the bottom of the page.

Image searching

Pics4Learning