E-Safety

What is the Digital Leaders Programme?  

Launched in September 2015, the Childnet Digital Leaders Programme aims to empower young people aged 11-18 years to champion digital citizenship and digital creativity within schools and to educate their peers, parents and teachers about staying safe online.

This youth leadership programme will offer pupils an exciting online community, structured training and ongoing support from Childnet’s expert team, helping make e-safety learning fun and effective and helping schools work towards an outstanding whole school community approach to e-safety.

Townley joined the Childnet Digital Leaders programme and has recruited students to become Digital Leaders from all year groups. So far, the Digital Leaders have delivered talks to students during assemblies as well as taking part in the “Safer Internet Day” Campaign in February where they ran activities and workshops to promote using the internet in a safe and positive way for all students at Townley.  

The benefits to the school and students are:

• Empower youth voice
  
  
• Make e-safety learning fun and effective
  
  
• Proven positive impact on pupils - including safer online behaviours and increased e-safety knowledge
  
  
• Digital Leaders gain key skills such as leadership, communication and team work
  
  
• Engage and empower parents and staff
  
  
• Helping the school work towards outstanding e-safety practice in school

SWGFL has produced these online guides especially for parents regarding E-Safety.

An Introduction to Online Safety (Part 1)

An Introduction to Online Safety (Part 2)

An Introduction to Online Safety (Part 3)

Parents and carers play an important role in helping children develop into young adults.  Young people still need support and guidance in how they manage their on line lives and how to use the internet positively and safely.

Here are some top tips in how you can help young people stay safe on-line.

Communication

In the same way that you chat to your child about the friends they have at school and any activities they participate in.  Show an interest and talk with your child about the websites, apps, chatrooms that they use and their friends participate in.  Display interest in their digital interactions and ask them to show you how these sites work. Even better encourage your child to add you as a friend to any social network sites they may belong to. Ask your child whether they know where the privacy settings are and what to do if they need to report a problem.

Your Child’s Digital Footprint

Ensure your child understands the longevity of posting something online.  Once content is uploaded onto a website it could potentially stay online forever.  It is very difficult to “take back” the information, anyone who has access could have copied it for themselves, kept it for their own records or distributed it further.  Many companies routinely view current or prospective employee’s social networking pages, be careful about what you say, what pictures you post and your profile.

Think Before You Post

Emphasise the importance of thinking before you post something online.  A careless comment or sharing a picture online without thinking may be viewed as hurtful by another party.  Ensure your child is aware of the dangers of posting something online without thinking. Discuss with them what is appropriate content and what is not.  Frame it by saying if they know their teacher would not be happy to see that information, then it is probably best not to post it.  

Parental Controls 

Parental controls are designed to help protect children from inappropriate content they may come across online. These controls can be used to limit access to only age appropriate content, to set usage times and to monitor activity.  Ensure you know how to set them on any devices your child may have.

Boundaries

Just as you may have set boundaries for your child regarding staying up late and for going out with friends. It is also important that your child has boundaries regarding their on-line lives for example how long they should stay on-line, what information they should share.   Keep discussing this with your child as they continue to develop.

Social media refers to websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking.  Young people have an on-line culture and it is important to understand how young people interact with their on-line lives.

Social Networking Sites

Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are very popular with young people.  These sites allow children to be creative online and keep in touch with their friends, as well as sharing photo’s and videos.  Most social networking sites set a lower age limit for membership (13 years old is commonplace), but it’s easy for children to get around it and get online at an earlier age.  Encourage your child to tell you which sites they’re using, even better ask your child to add you as a friend to their profile page.  Make sure you are aware of any new social networks sites that become popular with young people e.g. ASK FM and be aware of what forum that site operates.

Ensure you and your young person know how to set up privacy settings and manage their on-line profiles on any social network site they may belong to.  All social network sites have an on-line guide to help you navigate the settings.  For Example Facebook have a parents user guide freely available.

Cyberbullying (also called “online bullying”) is when a person or a group of people uses the internet, email, online games or any other kind of digital technology to threaten, tease, upset or humiliate someone else.

What are the Issues with Cyberbullying?

• 24/7 and the invasion of home/ personal space.

Cyberbullying can take place at any time and can intrude into spaces that have previously been regarded as safe or personal.

• The audience can be very large and reached rapidly.

The difficulty in controlling electronically circulated messages means the scale and scope of cyberbullying can be greater than for other forms of bullying. Electronically forwarded content is hard to control, and the worry of content resurfacing can make it difficult for targets to move on.

• People who cyberbully may attempt to remain anonymous.

This can be extremely distressing for those being bullied. The person cyberbullying may never be in the same physical space as their target.

• The profile of the bully and target.

Cyberbullying can take place both between peers and across generations; teachers have also been targets. Age or size are not important. Bystanders can also become accessories to the bullying; for example, by passing on a humiliating image.  

•  Some instances of cyberbullying are known to be unintentional.

It can be the result of not thinking (something sent as a joke may be deeply upsetting or offensive to the recipient) or a lack of awareness of the consequences – for example saying something negative online about another pupil, or friend that they don’t expect to be forwarded or viewed outside their immediate group.

• Many cyberbullying incidents can themselves act as evidence.

This is one of the reasons why it’s important to know how to respond!

(Information taken from Childnet) visit Childnet International.com for further details.

Spotting Signs of Cyberbullying

It is not always easy to spot the signs of cyberbullying.  Be alert to a change in your child’s behaviour, for example:

• Being upset after using the internet or their mobile phone;
• Unwilling to talk or secretive about their online activities and mobile phone use.
• Spending much more or much less time texting, gaming or using social media.
• After texting or being online they may seem withdrawn, upset or outraged.
• Not wanting to go to school and/or avoiding meeting friends and school mates.
• Avoiding formerly enjoyable social situations.
• Difficulty Sleeping.
• Low self-esteem.

What to do if you suspect a child is being cyberbullied

The Department of Education has provided an advice sheet for parents and carers which gives comprehensive guidance on cyberbullying and how to deal with it.  Here are some highlights from the report on dealing with cyberbullying.

If you suspect a young person is being harassed or bullied online ask them to give you details. 

Encourage your child to talk to you and take it seriously. 

Print out the evidence for future reference.

Talk to a teacher at your child’s school if other pupils at the school are involved.

The school community should support all pupils who are bullied and develop strategies to prevent bullying from happening.

It is important that the child is involved in resolving the issues as this can help to strengthen their self-confidence and restore a sense of emotional safety.

Ensure you and your child know how to report any issues when using social networks.  For example Facebook has produced a support sheet Empowering Parents and Families which gives guidance on what do if your child is being bullied.

The UK Safer Internet Centre works with social networking sites to disseminate their safety and reporting tools.

The Anti-Bullying Alliance has put together a factsheet outlining the range of support that is available to schools, parents, carers and young people from the anti-bullying sector.  

Source:  Department for Education

Advice for parents and carers on cyberbullying. November 2014

Reference:  DFE-00655-2014

Parental controls offered by your home internet provider

How to set up filters on your home internet to help prevent age inappropriate content being accessed on devices in your home.

The 4 big internet providers in the UK – BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media - provide their customers with free parental controls which can be activated at any time. They have come together to produce these helpful video guides to help you to download and set-up the controls offered by your provider.

 BT Parental Controls

SKY Parental Controls

 TalkTalk Parental Controls

Virgin Media Parental Controls

Here are some useful websites for further information.  To go to a particular site click on the relevant logo and it will take you directly to the website.

Here are some useful websites for further information.  To go to a particular site click on the relevant logo and it will take you directly to the website.

Students can use our reporting tool "Whisper" to report any incidents or issues on E-Safety anonymously. Click on the icon below and complete the form.