Children at Willington Primary School use the Internet on a regular basis as part of their learning. In school we have regular ‘e-safety’ activities to remind children of the importance of keeping themselves safe on-line.
At home, many children are often given unsupervised access to the Internet. This, potentially, allows them to access all kinds of society (both good and bad) and bring them into their homes.
You can use your computer, mobile phone or tablet for lots of fun things and to make lots of new friends from all over the world.
This section of our website will provide you with links to really useful advice on how to be careful when you use the internet and some great tips to keep safe. If you are worried about anything you see online or people are asking you questions about where you live or saying nasty things to you please speak to your parents or teacher or follow any of the links below for help and advice.
Click on the links to access e-safety resources:
Information for 5 – 7 year olds: Thinkuknow 5-7 Year Olds
Information for 8-10 year olds: Thinkuknow 8-10 Year Olds
Information for 11-16 year olds: Thinkuknow 11-16 Year Olds
Information for children with Special Educational Needs: Special Educational Needs
Link to Bullying UK website. Bullying UK is on on-line support service which includes Cyberbullying: Bullying
Link to Kidscape an organisation which helps to prevent bullying and child abuse
Link to Childline – a free helpline for children and young people in the UK: Childline
Link to Safer Internet – You can find e-safety tips, advice and resources: Safer Internet
Children are growing up in a world with a bigger range of online activities than ever before and it is sometimes very hard for both children and adults to know how to stay safe.
Parents/Online Safety Information
Most parents will want to reduce the risks to their children, and remembering to set parental controls can reduce the risks to children, and reduce the risk to parents when children accidentally spend online money! The internet matters website explains this quite well. Online safety is not just about protecting children from some of the dangers of the internet – it is also about helping them manage their use of technology and most of the parental controls allow adults to set a maximum time for the use of a device or app.
Here is a link to A Practical Guide for Parents and Carers whose Children are Using Social Media, a very useful guide, written by 5 different organisations with an interest of keeping children safe online, for parents of children who use social media. This guide will help you:
- understand the risks your child faces when using social media
- how these risks could affect them
- with practical tips to help minimise the risks
- make a report of inappropriate or unsafe use
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.
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