Brookfield Primary School Be the best you can be!
Online Safety
With the internet being such a big an important part of life in these times, it is essential that parents and children know how to keep safe online.
The children are supervised when they access the Internet, which is heavily filtered. The school network is also monitored and the children are always encouraged to tell an adult if they have any concerns.
Online Safety in the school curriculum: Online safety is taught within the computing curriculum throughout the year, and we also celebrate the national 'Safer Internet Day' by partaking in numerous activities.
The children also learn about the SMART rules for keeping safe online and these are displayed around school and in every classroom.
We have 'I-Avengers' from Year 5 and 6, who meet each term to discuss online safety and help promote it across the school. As a school we also follow a scheme of work using Project Evolve to teach Online Safety.
At Home:
It’s important to remember that the legal age to have an account on most social media – Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, Snapchat – is 13 years old.
As a parent you’ll know how important the internet is to children – they use it to learn, play, socialise and express themselves. It’s a highly creative place of amazing opportunities. But the technology children use every day can seem a bit daunting and you might worry about the risks your child can face online – such as bullying, contact from strangers or the possibility of them seeing illegal or inappropriate content.
Reducing Risks
Here are some tips to help you reduce the risk to your child's safety while they are using an online device;
- Make sure that parental controls are set appropriately. You can use these to control what your children are able to do or see while they're using their devices. Although they're not a perfect solution, they can block many problems.
- Watch for behaviour changes in your child which could indicate that they are at risk from harm online, e.g. nervousness or anxiety, unwillingness to discuss online activity, becoming secretive or withdrawn, etc.
- Monitor your child’s activities while they are using any online device.
- When children are searching the internet, use filtered search engines like Swiggle.
- Check for age ratings on games and apps which they are using. Just like with movies, 18+ ratings are there for good reason!
- Have open conversations with your child about the risks with online devices.
- Ensure that your child knows what to do if something unwanted happens while they are online, e.g. using the 'Report' button, and speaking to a trusted adult about it. Remind them that they won't get into trouble for speaking out, and that they have to keep themselves safe.