Online Safety at William Austin Infant School

Why?

All children access the internet at school, at home or in places like libraries and clubs. It is vital that we promote the use of technology and the internet but also model to our children how to be a part of the digital world safely. Our children are privileged to be growing up in a digital age and are exploring the online world at a very young age. The internet provides children with excellent opportunities for learning, communicating with friends, developing new interests and hobbies as well as for entertainment but sometimes, children don’t realise that they can be as much at risk online as they are in the real world. This information aims to help you keep your children safe online by providing information on the risks and what action you can take to protect your child when they use the internet.

What you can do

Faced with risks, you may be tempted to just stop your child from using the internet, but most children will be able to access it in other places. The best thing to do is to teach your child how to keep themselves safe online and take the following action yourself;

• Talk to your child about the dangers of using the internet, show an interest in what they are doing and agree your own ‘golden rules’.
• Let your child know how important it is to tell you about any suspicious contacts or incidents of cyber bullying so you can take action.
• Teach your child the basic rules of “netiquette”, behaving responsibly on the internet and keeping messages polite.
• Let them know what kind of sites they can and can’t visit and try to encourage them to only use regulated chat rooms and social networking sites that are designed for their age group.
• Take an interest in their online activities; talk to them about what they are doing, don’t let them access then internet unsupervised.
• Contact your internet service provider (for example; BT, Virgin etc) for advice on family security settings and parental controls that can filter internet content, block viruses or spam email to your computer or limit access to certain websites.
• Enforcing the use of the PEGI ratings on games and films - http://www.pegi.info/en/index/id/33/.  Children should only have access to age appropriate content and this also needs to be monitored by an adult.                    

Use a child-friendly search engine such as Safe Search to block out unsuitable websites. http://primaryschoolict.com

What we do in school

Our school computer system is designed to protect your child from many of these risks by blocking children’s access to unsuitable websites and supervising internet use in the classroom. We use the filtering provider Netsweeper which is monitored daily and supervised by our IT Technicians as well as Mrs Jones. Lessons based on online safety are taught throughout the year using Project Evolve resources that use the Government's Education for a Connected World guidance.  We promote the skills and values children need to grow into confident, knowledgeable and caring members of the online community – the ‘building blocks’ of digital citizenship. 

Golden rules

To make sure they stay safe online, you should teach your child:

• Not to give out personal details online, such as their name, address or school, or anyone else’s personal details
• Not to upload photographs or information onto social networking sites unless you agree.
• Not to arrange to meet people they have only met online.
• Not to open attachments to emails unless they know and trust the person who sent it.
• Not to buy anything off the internet without your permission.
• To only use a webcam with people they know and trust.
• To tell you if they receive any messages or material that makes them feel uncomfortable.

If you have any queries about supporting your child using the internet or understanding PEGI ratings on games and films please contact Mrs Wright or Mrs Jones.

Further Links