Vernon Primary Schoole-Safety
E-Safety is an important part of keeping our children safe at Vernon Primary School. E-Safety is taught to all pupils explaining and demonstrating how to stay safe and behave appropriately online. We can only be successful in keeping children safe online if we work with parents to ensure the e-Safety message is consistent. It is important that parents speak to their children about how they can keep safe and behave appropriately online. It’s essential to be realistic - banning the internet or technology will not work and it often makes a child less likely to report a problem. Education around safe use is essential.
The following website link containing internet safety advice may be useful to parents/carers of children age 5-16
www.thinkuknow.co.uk/ this website is produced by CEOP (the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre)
If you or anyone you know is worried about Child Exploitation, Online Protection or anything related to Internet safety please click the link below which will take you to the CEOP reporting website: https://www.ceop.police.uk/safety-centre/
Online Safety
Childnet have updated their parent and carer toolkit to help parents have conversations about online safety. Their booklet 'Let's talk about life online' includes ten key messages that should be shared with children:
1. You can always come to me if you need help.
2. What would you do if this happened…?
3. Remember that not everyone is who they say they are online.
4. Keep your personal information safe, and other people’s too.
5. Be respectful to others online.
6. Think before you post.
7. Remember to ask if it’s okay.
8. Remember not everything is true online.
9. The things other people post online might not always show what their life is really like.
10 Recognise how going online makes you feel and take a break when you need to.
The Parent and Carer Toolkit can be found here: Toolkit
Coming soon to a classroom near you...
On Tuesday 11th February, each year group will be taking part in an activity for Safer Internet Day when we'll join forces across the globe to work "Together for a better internet". The activities will promote the safe and positive use of digital technology, especially among children and young people. Children will feedback to the rest of their Key stage what they learned from their sessions in the assembly on Thursday.
E-Safety News
October 2019
Year 5 and 6 had a visit from the local PCSO's to explain the importance of being safe when using the internet. The children were reminded on how to ensure they are using the internet safely and wisely. The children asked lots of brilliant questions and enjoyed the refresher session.
July 2018
Jane Commins, a CEOP police officer from Cheshire Police, delivered an informative anti-bullying talk to the Year 6 children which also featured important updates regarding online safety including age limits for social media websites and ways to stay safe online. The children found this particularly useful as they prepare for the transition to Secondary school.
April 2018
The Year 5 and 6 children watched the interactive performance 'The Snap Trap' which explored the dangers of smart technology. The 45 minute performance was extremely well received by the children as it addressed the problems of inappropriate use of technology including smartphone safety, peer pressure and is aimed to help young people recognise risks.
March 2018
The school's Safeguarding Committee delivered an extremely informative PowerPoint presentation to their Year 6 peers which focussed on 'Positive and Unhealthy attention online'. The interactive presentation explored what is meant by good and bad attention online and provided the children with example scenarios to discuss with their peers. This theme raised several questions about the right information that children should share online and allowed them to think about the people they are communicating with via the Internet.
February 2018
Tuesday 6th February marked 'Safer Internet Day 2018!' This year's theme was 'Create, Connect and Share Respect: A better Internet starts with you'. This theme focussed on the importance of children being safe when 'live streaming' on the Internet. Live streaming means using an app or website to put out a broadcast without delay or edit, just like live TV and it is fast becoming one of the most popular online activities for young children.
To support this campaign by 'Thinkuknow', we worked with the KS2 children to educate them about the importance of sharing information safely online.
September 2017
Whilst setting up online accounts for the Maths tool 'Times Table Rockstars', Year 4 children learnt about the importance of keeping their online usernames and passwords safe. This has allowed them to access the resource securely and also reminded the children about the importance of e-safety.
September 2016
To remind the children about the importance of e-safety both within school and at home, KS1 recently had an assembly exploring the 'Kidsmart' website. This is an invaluable tool to help teach children how to use the internet safely. The children particularly enjoyed sharing the 'Smartie Penguin' story which explores the topic with a fun and child friendly approach. e-Safety Links:
www.thinkuknow.co.uk/ – containing internet safety advice for those aged from 5-16, along with parents and teachers this website is produced by CEOP (the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre)
http://www.kidsmart.org.uk/ - an award-winning internet safety programme for children http://vodafonedigitalparenting.co.uk/ - online magazine designed to support parents when talking to their child about the benefits and challenges of the digital world
http://www.childnet.com/resources/kia/ - lots of useful advice for keeping yourselves and your children safe on the internet
http://www.ceop.police.uk/safety-centre/ -A police organisation working with child protection partners across the UK and overseas to identify the main threats to children. Age appropriate games and information provided for children on the site.
http://www.internetmatters.org/
https://www.kidscape.org.uk/ - an organisation which works to prevent bullying and child abuse.
Recommended Books
‘Penguin Pig’, by Stuart Spendlow
‘Chicken Clicking’, By Jeanne Willis
‘Digiducks Big Decision’ http://www.kidsmart.org.uk/teachers/ks1/digiduck.aspx
‘The Adventures of Smartie the Penguin’ http://www.kidsmart.org.uk/teachers/ks1/readsmartie.aspx