E-Safety
Keeping Children Safe Online
With the increasing use of technology in everyday life, it is essential that all children become confident and safe users of the internet and other technologies.
Children are taught e-safety rules and expectations as soon as they start at Five Spires Academy and these are reinforced regularly through lessons and assemblies.
Underpinning the curriculum, are the SMART rules which are reinforced in school:
Safe - Keep safe by being careful not to give out personal information when you're chatting or posting online. Personal information includes your email address, phone number and passwords.
Meeting - To meet someone you have only met online can be dangerous. Only do so with your parents' or carers' permission and, even then, only when they can be present. Remember, online friends are still strangers, even if you have been talking to them for a long time.
Accept - If you accept emails or messages, or open files, pictures or texts from people you don't know or trust, it can lead to problems - they may contain viruses or nasty messages!
Reliable - Someone online may not be reliable and may lie about who they are. Information on the internet may also not be true. Always check information with other websites, books or someone who knows. If you like chatting online, it's best to only chat to your real world friends and family.
Tell - Tell your parent, carer or a trusted adult if someone, or something, makes you feel uncomfortable or worried, or if you or someone you know is being bullied online.
Things you can do to increase e-safety in the home
Many young people are anxious about how their parents may react if they are made aware of their activity online. In many instances, this prevents children/young people from speaking out when something is happening to them online. It is important that, whilst children are aware of their boundaries, and advised how to keep themselves safe, they also know that it is never too late to tell somebody if something goes wrong.
The following advice for parents is from CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection) and is designed to make online experiences for children as safe as possible:
- Encourage children to think of an adult they can trust to talk to if somebody is frightening, upsetting, or hurting them online. This could be a parent, teacher, youth club worker or an agency like CEOP. Emphasise that the main aim of that person will be to try to keep them safe and to stop the behaviour that is causing them to be frightened or upset.
- If possible, remove or disable any webcam facility on computers used by children. Only reinstall this at times when a trusted adult is able to supervise their use of it.
- Parents should have access to all their child’s online accounts and control the passwords. This includes emails, skype and any social media (Facebook, Snapchat etc.) In addition, parents should routinely review their children’s internet accounts to ensure that they are not placing them at risk or are not being exploited by way of their activities online.
- When children are considering a new game, website, or application, we encourage parents to check the terms of service to ensure they are fully informed of the nature of the provision (i.e. are there live chat facilities/webcams etc...) and to check their child meets the minimum age requirements. Children must be aged 13 years or older to hold a Facebook account and other websites used by children will also have minimum age restrictions.
- Remember that internet connection is included within smartphones, tablets, iPads, laptops and games consoles, not just computers, so the same precautions should be taken with them.
- We would also suggest parents link all of their child’s accounts, including emails, to their own. This means any emails their child gets, they will also get, which should warn them if their child registers for inappropriate websites or is in receipt of any suspicious contact.
- We advise children not to talk to anyone online that they do not personally know offline. This is sometimes difficult, due to the nature of games or other online communities, so we encourage children not to move people across platforms (i.e. from games to Facebook or from Facebook to Snapchat) unless they are known to them in real life.
- Parents should discuss the online identities that their child uses. Advise them of the risks if they portray themselves as being older or if they create online personas that include suggestive nicknames, their own name and or age i.e. [email protected] or [email protected].
- SPAM is a really common problem. This type of message is computer generated and is almost impossible to find its source. Unfortunately, there is little that CEOP can do to stop it. Some messages request that a credit card is used to prove identity - under no circumstances should you disclose this information. CEOP recommends that, firstly, your child changes the passwords on their accounts and keeps them private at all times. They should then tell their contacts to do the same, as they could be sending spam to each other without knowing. It’s also best they do not add anyone that they do not know to their instant messenger contacts, as this will make them more vulnerable. Unknown contacts should be blocked and not accepted as a friend. Sometimes, replying to any spam will let it know that your account is active, so it will keep sending it to you.
Useful Resources for Parents
CEOP | Education & Advice for Parents/Carers
NSPCC | Keeping children safe online
Swiggle | Child-friendly Search Engine