At Totley All Saints Online Safety is taught to all children as part of the curriculum! For more information, see our Online Safety Curriculum page (as part of PSHE) as well as the following curriculum documents:
Depending upon the age and maturity of your child, consider keeping computers in communal places where you can see the screen. Similarly, you may find it helpful to agree and set boundaries around your child’s ‘screen-time’ i.e. how much time they spend watching TV, on the internet, their mobile phone etc.
Seek advice from your internet service provider to block inappropriate content. You could consider installing additional software to enable you to manage and monitor your child’s internet use. This could also act as a discussion topic.
When buying a new computer, mobile phone, gaming device or any new technological item. Ask a sales assistant which Internet safety devices are available to help manage your child’s Internet access.
Help your child to enjoy their time on the Internet but also encourage offline activity; for example – playing with their friends, participating in family activities and developing hobbies.
Teach your child not to give out personal information about themselves. Personal information could include their name, address, telephone number, where they live or which school they go to. If they’re signing up for email, chat or on a website, get them to use a nickname and make sure that it’s one that does not identify their year/ date of birth or have sexual connotations.
Talk to them about the need to be careful of ‘friends’online. Friends online might not be who they say they are. Ask your child to consider if they would talk to their ‘real life’ friends in the same way they do to online ‘friends.
Be open. Take an interest in their online world just as you would in their offline activities. Talk to them about what they’ve seen or sites they have visited, just as you might talk to them about a book they’ve read or a film they’ve seen.
Encourage your child to report any accidental access to sexual material such as pop-ups, and praise them if they do. Let them know that they can tell you if they become uncomfortable with anything that happens on the Internet and acknowledge that it may be difficult for them to do this. They may have said things they are embarrassed about and wouldn’t want you to know. Help them learn that we all make mistakes when growing up and that you can help.
Remind your child that once an image is sent, there is no getting it back. Stress that once they have sent an image, or posted it online, they no longer have control of it and it could end up anywhere. Ask them how they would feel if their teachers, parents, or their whole school saw what they had sent.
Ensure your child understands the danger of meeting up with someone they have only met online. Whether that person says they are a man, woman or child and that they should never go on their own.
You can also find more information on how to stay safe online via the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) website: www.thinkuknow.co.uk
These websites may also be helpful for you to look at and contain material for both parents/carers and children.
Online Safety Adviser Parents’ Newsletters on Various Topics:
For the very latest information on online safety, Online Safety Adviser Parents’ Newsletters are very helpful & include such topics as: Gaming, videos & games, setting boundaries & rules, discussing safe usage with your child, APPs, Cyber-Bullying, Social Networks, Face Book, etc.
Share Aware, from NSPCC and O2, gives parents all the tools they need to have regular and informed conversations with their child about staying safe online. Under 20% of parents discuss online safety regularly with their children, but Share Aware wants to get every family talking about their child’s life online, just as they would their day at school. Parents can sign up to the Icebreaker email series and become an expert in their child’s online world in 6 weeks, follow the four simple steps to keeping kids safe online, watch a film ‘Safety advice from a 10 year old’ or visit Net Aware – the guide to your child’s social networks apps and games. The internet is a great place for kids to be, being Share Aware makes it safer.
