At Wolsingham Primary, the purpose of Internet access and access to related technologies is to raise educational standards and to promote pupil achievement. We believe that The Internet and related technologies are an essential element in 21st century life for education, business and social interaction and that we have a duty to provide students with quality Internet access and access to related technologies as part of their learning experience and to prepare them for the future. We endeavour to work closely with parents to support them in ensuring that that they have the necessary information to help them to keep their children safe online.
The internet has changed all of our lives, particularly our children’s. For parents and carers this opens up a whole new world of things to be aware of. For many of us, this can all be a bit too much. You might be struggling to keep up with the things your child is doing online, you might wonder whether what they are doing is safe, and you might also be thinking how can I be as good a parent online as I am offline? This site aims to make online parenting simple. Even if the only search engine you use is a pair of binoculars, do not despair.
At Wolsingham Primary, children are regularly involved in activities helping them to understand the importance of E-Safety and some of the resources used in school can be found below.
In Key Stage 1, Hector and his friends will teach the children how to stay safe on the internet:
In Key Stage 2, this website has been created to show children what is good, look at what’s not and show them ways that they can get themselves out of bad situations:
Computers, mobile phones or tablets can be used for lots of fun things and to make lots of new friends from all over the world.
Parent Information
Parent Information is collaboration between CEOP and Parent Zone and provides information to parents and carers about their children’s wellbeing and resilience, internet safety and a wide range of other topic matters like sex, relationship and body image.
Internet Matters is a site paid for by many British companies. It has a lot of good advice on adding parental controls as well as on most aspects of online safety. Parental controls will only help keep children safe. The best safety feature that a child has is their parent or carer. Take the time to talk to your child about the apps and games they are using and don’t be afraid to say no sometimes!
The range of online apps changes on a regular basis and the NSPCC have a site called Net Aware. This provides unbiased up-to-date information on current apps and sites along with advice to parents about dealing with issues.
The NSPCC have teamed up with O2 to provide advice to parents and have a free helpline on 0808 800 5002. They will also give support in any O2 shop – you do not have to be an O2 customer.
ThinkUKnow is the website aimed at children and their parents from the National Crime Agency. It has lots of useful suggestions and advice on how to report issues. It also has lots of games and activities including Jessie and Friends for the younger children and Band Runner for the older ones.
For the youngest children being tricked into sharing pictures can be an issue. LGfL have produced a lovely free video which has some great advice and a very catchy song!
Many children will at times suffer from online bullying. It is really important that they have someone they can talk to and know that it is not acceptable. Most apps and sites will have systems inn place that allow bullying to be reported. Your child’s school may be able to help.
Children can call Childline on 0800 1111 for advice on anything that is worrying them.
Finally since 2015 is has been a criminal offence for an adult to send a message with sexual content to a child (This is Section 67 of the Serious Crime Act 2015). If you are concerned that this might have happened please contact The Police without further using the device. This will help ensure that evidence can be preserved. The Police can be contacted by phone or from the ThinkUKnow website.
Remember that you can also set parental controls on your child’s devices. You should be able to find more information regarding parental controls specific to the device on the manufacturer’s website. Please see links for two of the main manufactures of phones and tables below:
Apple Parental Controls
Samsung Parental Controls
You can also find a guide to setting up your child’s first phone below:
You can also set parental controls on games consoles. See below for help guides for some of the most popular games consoles:
PlayStation 4
Xbox One
Xbox 360
Guidance for Children
We have added an e-Safety Guidance for Pupils section on our website with further information on using the internet safely.
We have also set up a pupil action group within school that joins our E-Cadets and Anti-bullying groups together, called Safety Squad. Please visit our Safety Squad page to find out what our pupils are doing to support the e-safety curriculum in school!
Downloads
You can view or download the additional information about e-Safety Guidance for Parents downloads by clicking the links below.
e-Safety – A Parent’s Guide Leaflet
Online Gaming – A Guide for Parent’s
Social networking – A Guide for parents
