Internet Safety
We have updated our guidance for parents and carers to keep children safe online. The measures announced over recent weeks to tackle coronavirus (COVID-19), although essential, have disrupted people’s day-to-day lives.
Online Grooming New Campaign
A new safety campaign from Internet Watch Foundation aims to help parents have conversations with their children about keeping their 'door' closed to child sexual abusers. The campaign includes a booklet for parents, explaining the risks, explaining why children are vulnerable, and suggests practice steps that parents can take.
The mnemonic used in the campaign is TALK:
- TALK to your child about online sexual abuse. Start the conversation – and listen to their concerns.
- AGREE ground rules about the way you use technology as a family.
- LEARN about the platforms and apps your child loves. Take an interest in their online life.
- KNOW how to use tools, apps and settings that can help to keep your child safe online.
https://talk.iwf.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/A-guide-for-parents-and-carers-v7.pdf
https://www.childnet.com/parents-and-carers/hot-topics
https://www.internetmatters.org/resources/apps-guide/
https://parentzone.org.uk/advice/parent-guides
https://www.internetmatters.org/resources/wellbeing-apps-guide-for-kids/
Top tips for 11-19s
- Protect your online reputation: ‘think before you post.’ Content posted online can last forever and could be shared publicly by anyone.
- Know where to find help: understand how to use blocking and deleting tools. If something happens that upsets you online, it’s never too late to tell someone. You tell your family, your tutor, your Head Of Year, your Student Support Officer, Ms O'Brien or Lify
- Don’t give in to pressure: if you lose your inhibitions you've lost control; once you’ve pressed send you can’t take it back.
- Respect the law: use reliable services and know how to legally access the music, film and TV you want.
- Acknowledge your sources: use trustworthy content and remember to give credit when using others’ work/ideas.
Tips to keep children and young people safe in the game
- · Encourage your child to set get games to private and only play with people that they know.
- · If they are the Host of the game, advise them to be more vigilant of what players are saying or doing to remove anyone that is not respecting others or sharing inappropriate content.
- · If they do choose to play public games, make sure they keep their personal information private, particularly if they are playing with people they don’t know.
- · For young children using Discord to speak to players in the game, encourage them to put the sound through the PC speakers rather than on a headset so you can be aware of what is being said.
- · Talk to them about issues such as cyberbullying and online grooming so they know how to recognise these risks and have some coping strategies to use if they come across them in and out of the game.
Please click below to access U.K. safer Internet Centre
Please click below to access Childnet
1https://www.childnet.com/parents-and-carers