Mobile/Internet safety

A reminder that your child is permitted to bring a mobile phone into school if necessary. To ensure that safeguarding procedures are robust, this must be handed to either the member of staff on the gate or the Breakfast Club lead, first thing in the morning. Through lessons and class discussions, we highlight positive uses of technology, but also ways in which we can all keep safe through responsible use of the internet, our mobile phones and social media (eg WhatsApp, TikTok, Facebook etc).
As a school, we now buy into The National College (TNC) online training platform and it has already had a massive impact on our staff. In addition to supporting our needs, TNC also supports parents and carers in a number of ways: and it’s all free:
• From next Friday, we will be sending out an online safety, ‘What parents need to know about…’ covering subjects such as cyberbullying, TikTok, mental health, age-appropriate content…to name but a few.
• There are also courses such as the ‘Annual Award in Online Safety for Parents & Carers of Children aged 7-11’ and Annual Certificate in Cyber Security for Parents and Carers (2023-2024)
• Webinars on subjects such as, ‘DfE KCSiE Remote Safeguarding: Online Safety for DSLs, Teachers and Parents’
To respond to concerns nationally, we really want to raise the profile of online safety and support you as parents/carers and show our pupils how committed we are to ensuring they are kept as safe as possible when working online. Therefore, any parent engaging with TNC, will be presented with a certificate during the Celebration Assembly, however, unlike our other certificates, these will be awarded to you by your own children. If a parent/carer completes 3 courses or webinars, they will be presented with an ‘I’m Cyber Safe’ enamel badge to keep and wear proudly. Please contact the school office for information on how to enrol.
 

New Online Safety Guide for the Summer Holidays 2023!  

This free online safety poster can help young people to stay safer online over summer by (among other things) recognising fake news, sharing uplifting content and thinking before they post.

Parent & Carer Guides for Online Apps and more:

Online Safety

We worked extremely hard recently, to highlight and educate the dangers of working online whilst at home. At school, we have the highest level of filtering possible, to ensure that pupils cannot access any inappropriate materials or age restricted sites. It is a growing concern nationally, that many aspects of social media are having a massively negative impact on children’s health. Because of this, there has been a huge increase in the amount of support available to parents.

Online safety training videos:

Last Summer, the County E-Safety Co-Ordinator, recorded an Online Safety information session for parents. This video goes through the different online concerns and explains to parents what they can do to support their children. The video is quite long (at 50 mins) and therefore she’s developing some shorter videos which will address the issues individually. However, for now, the longer video can be accessed on the Team's YouTube channel here: Keeping Children and Young People Safe in a Digital World - Online Safety workshop for Parents-2021 - YouTube

Information about apps and parental controls:

The two main sites we are directing parents to are Internet Matters and National Online Safety. 

Internet Matters has a huge range of information including:

• advice by age: Internet safety advice and information | Internet Matters
• advice by issue: Online safety issues - advice to support children| Internet Matters
• advice regarding parental controls: Parental Controls & Privacy Settings Guides - Internet Matters
• advice by app: Apps guide for parents | Internet Matters

National Online Safety also has tonnes of information - but some of which is only available to subscribers. I've only included free to access resources below. 

• NOS have one-page app/online safety issue guides - these are available to download, view or share for free (you can also sign up to receive a new guide each week via email and they have an app too):

 E-safety Guides for Schools | National Online Safety
 

• They also have short 'parent courses' about children's internet use at different ages - these are free, but parents would need to register an email address - I've linked the 7-11 course, but they also have courses for younger and older children: Online Safety for Parents of Children Aged 7-11 | With Myleene Klass | National Online Safety

General online safety info:

I'm also recommending the NSPCC for up-to-date online safety information. The following page explains the risks of children being online and supports parents/carers to have difficult conversations: Teaching Your Child about Internet & Online Safety | NSPCC

Reporting:

We think it is important for parents and children to understand how to report any issues that they have on the various sites/apps. Unfortunately, the apps don't always make it clear - which is hugely frustrating - however the Report Harmful Content site includes step by step instructions for the major social medias: Report Harmful Content - We Help You Remove Content

Family agreements/screen time limits:

It may be useful to download or use a family agreement to put in place some boundaries/rules around online life. There are a few templates which I have linked below.

Childnet have developed a family agreement template, this can be viewed and downloaded here: Family agreement | Childnet

NSPCC have also got two templates available here: o2-nspcc-family-agreement-template.pdf and here: cso_familyagreement_interactive_jan2022.pdf (nspcc.org.uk)

Internet Matters has quite a comprehensive template available here: IM-Family-Agreement.pdf (internetmatters.org)

Support for children

PhoneSmart License:

EE have worked with a number of other organisations to develop the PhoneSmart License - this is aimed at children in upper KS2 who may be waiting to get their first phone, or perhaps have just received their first phone. This 'course' takes children through 5 situations where they must complete quizzes etc. to earn their license. 

There is information for parents/carers here: Parent - Homepage (eephonesmart.co.uk)

and a separate site for children here: Kids Homepage (eephonesmart.co.uk)

This is free and may help children to prepare for life online. 

Please note - EE are the leading organisation, children and parents do NOT have to have an EE contract. 

Think U Know:

ThinkUKnow have different sites and resources for the different age groups - they have child-friendly sites, parent-friendly sites and a site dedicated to professionals: CEOP Education - home (thinkuknow.co.uk)

We intend to use the ‘Play Like Share’ lessons in class and recommend the ‘Band Runner’ game for our children and parents – this is intended to be used at home and embed these lessons. For more information about the resources, please visit: Band Runner game and website for 8-10 year olds (thinkuknow.co.uk)

Childline:
I am also sharing the Childline site so that the children know where they can go for support, advice and reliable information. The Childline site has been updated a lot recently and there is now a space for them to focus on mindfulness and being calm. The Childline website also has information about online safety issues and explains what children should do if they are experiencing an issue: Online and mobile safety | Childline

​Be Internet Legends:

Be Internet Legends is a resource which has been developed by Google and Parent Zone - more information (including lesson plans for teachers) is available here: 

Online Safety Resources for Teachers - Be Internet Legends (beinternetawesome.withgoogle.com)

Should you feel this might be beneficial for your child, there is also an SEND resource pack available here: Download the Legendary SEND Pack | Parent Zone

I am placing the information here on a drop down tab on our website and also this newsletter will be available in the usual place (www.ramptonprimary.co.uk/news and events/newsletters) to enable links to be accessed easier. If you would like any further support on any of these matters, please do not hesitate to contact your class teacher who will be happy to help you.