E-safety
A lack of e-safety knowledge is the fastest growing risk to our children yet one we can all do something about. At Sutton Courtenay we know that most of our children are adept at using phones, tablets, laptops, games consoles, smart TVs and more!
In school the children are taught to keep safe in termly lessons, during e-safety week and daily whenever the use the iPads or laptops. However most of their access to the digital world is done outside of school hours and we strongly believe that keeping children safe comes from a strong partnership between school and home. Therefore we also offer support to keep parents informed about how to keep their children safe whilst using technology, through parent workshops, letters, home/school agreements and whole school assemblies.
The internet is like a magician’s hat. It's full of exciting things to explore and children love it. But whilst they seem to know what they’re doing, sometimes it’s hard for parents to keep track of all the different games, apps and websites that children visit.
There are five types of risks that children face when using digital technology.
1. The largest risk of all is cyber-bullying which happens to almost every child at some point. We need to teach the children to protect themselves, report problems and avoid becoming a bully themselves. Peer on peer cyber-bullying is becoming prolific within school aged children.
2. Conduct which includes trolling and self-trolling, hate and illegal activities and risky behaviours such a nude photos.
3. Content which might expose children to violence and pornography and is far to easily accidently reached through YouTube, web-links or adverts.
4. Commerce including lack of short and long-term privacy as well as financial risk, especially when playing games.
5. Contact including grooming, CSE (child sexual exploitation) and criminal interactions.
To really understand the brevity of these risks, you might like to watch (adult appropriate only) 'Where's Klaus' on Youtube.
Below are links to excellent websites that parents can use to help them understand how to keep their children safe and prepare them for staying safe as they move to secondary school and beyond. We have also prepared a page of links to KS1 and KS2 suitable videos that parents and carers can watch with children to facilitate discussion.
These websites will support you (as parents and carers) to keep your children safe online:
https://www.nspcc.org.uk/what-we-do/about-us/partners/nspcc-o2-online-safety-partnership?
Please remember to stick to the age guidelines on social media - for example, Facebook, Musialc.ly, Instagram, Snapchat etc. The recommended minimum age for these apps is 13. It is there to keep your children safe as all these apps have weak privacy settings and high 'stranger' access levels.
To find out the age ratings and potential risks of most apps and games please look at
Don't forget the good stuff too.
Despite all of the warnings and risks we still firmly believe that the Internet offers endless opportunities for developing children's knowledge, skills and understanding and is an essential tool in children's learning. The PowerPoint below was a presentation given at one of our Parent Forums to help parents support their child's learning on-line.