E-Safety
New technologies have become integral to the lives of children and young people in today’s society, both within schools and in their lives outside school.
The internet and other digital and information technologies are powerful tools, which open up new opportunities for everyone. Electronic communication helps teachers and pupils learn from each other. These technologies can stimulate discussion, promote creativity and increase awareness of context to promote effective learning. Children and young people should have an entitlement to safe internet access.
Ensuring children and young people use the internet and communication technologies safely and responsibly is a key part of our duty of care. The use of these exciting and innovative tools in school has been shown to raise educational standards and promote pupil achievement. At Barnsole Primary School we encourage the use of technology as an important part of children’s development but always want them to spend their time online safely. As a parent/carer you can also play a significant part in ensuring this.
Parents and Carers play a crucial role in ensuring that their children understand the need to use the internet / mobile devices in an appropriate way. Research shows that many parents and carers do not fully understand the issues and are less experienced in the use of ICT than their children. The school will therefore keep parents and carers informed of these issues through parents’ evenings, Bulletins, letters, and information about national and local e-safety campaigns.
Just a few simple steps can help keep your children safe, and give them the awareness to know what to do if they feel uncomfortable about anything they encounter while on the internet. If you do not wish for your child to be able to access any inappropriate content online, please ensure that their computers, laptops and other devices with internet access are all fitted with parental controls.
You can find free downloadable versions online or you can contact your internet service provider (such as BT, Talk Talk, Sky) for more information.
As a minimum, please set parental controls on your search engines, and the mobile phone your child uses.
5 tips to help children stay safe online
- Review safety, wellbeing and privacy settings
- Check age ratings and platform features
- Talk openly about social media
- Encourage safe and thoughtful sharing
- Support positive online experiences
There are legal minimum age restrictions for children using social platforms.
WhatsApp - age 13+
WhatsApp is great for free phone calls, video calls and messages, but do you know the dangers of it?
TikTok - age 13+
Get clued up on the short video app that has over a billion users.
Snapchat - age 13+
What do you know about the app that many people use for communicating or a quick bit of silly fun?
Instagram - age 13+
What is Instagram?
One of the most popular search engines in the world is Google. You can visit
Google’s informative safety centre for simple step by step guides
www.google.com/familysafety/tools
Sometimes it is not enough to protect children from online harms by simply banning sites or installing firewalls and filters, at Barnsole we encourage our parents and carers to maintain an open and ongoing discussion about online safety at home/as a family/with their children.
Please be aware that no filter is 100% accurate. CEOP advise that you talk to your child about the sites they use. Why don’t you discuss:
- Their favourite online sites
- What they enjoy most, the fun aspects of being online?
- What they think can go wrong?
- How would they react if things got out of control?
Let them know that you understand that situations happen online and that seeing ‘adult’ material can make them feel uncomfortable. Make sure they know that you are there to help. Visit The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) parents’ information website for more information.