Online Safety

You can use your computer, mobile phone or tablet for lots of fun things and to make lots of new friends from all over the world.

This section of our website will provide you with links to really useful advice on how to be careful when you use the internet and some great tips to keep safe. If you are worried about anything you see online or people are asking you questions about where you live or saying nasty things to you please speak to your parents or teacher or follow any of the links below for help and advice.

Ofsted describes e-safety as a school’s ability to protect and educate pupils in their use of technology as well as having appropriate mechanisms in place to intervene and support any incident where appropriate.

Protect

Protecting students means providing a safe learning environment by using appropriate monitoring and filtering to control what students can access while at school. But, this only protects them while they are on school premises. Education around e-safety is the only way to ensure that, wherever they are, they know how to stay safe online.

Educate – The education of e-safety covers a wide range of subjects, including:

Online behaviour – understanding what constitutes cyber-bullying and how to behave safely and with respect for others
Protecting your online reputation – understanding both the risks and rewards of sharing personal information online (your digital footprint)
How to use social networking safely
Understanding the reliability and validity of online information
Data security – keeping your personal information safe and being aware of viruses and hacking
Knowing what to do if anything bad happens (e.g. you are a victim of cyber-bullying or you upload something by mistake)

What we do

At St. Margaret’s we encourage our pupils to be actively involved in new technology and the modern world which we live in. Denying children access to the internet does not protect them from potential issues and disadvantages them from the many benefits which are available.

In order to protect our children, we try to offer a comprehensive programme of education and opportunities for pupils to learn how to protect themselves in school, but more importantly out side of school and in their future lives.
Taking advice from Durham County, we run annual and biannual training for staff and parents, to keep abreast of the fast changing world of on line communication. Find below, the leaflet handed out at Parental E safety Training 2017/18.

We also use the SWGfL (South West Grid for Learning) e safety programme of study which has been adapted for our school. This scheme consists of areas of learning and tasks each half term throughout the school and also incorporates Safer Internet Day in February.

eSafety Help and Advice

Below are a selection of websites and resources which children and parents can use to increase their knowledge of how to stay safe on line. Please pay particular attention to the CEOP (Child Exploiation and On line Protection) website at which parents and children can reportt any concerns they have.

In response to recent issues with some of our older pupils using apps such as instagram for communication, we would recommend parents view this site by the NSPCC which gives in depth information about popular apps which children use and how to keep them safe, including how to effectively operate privacy settings.

http://www.net-aware.org.uk/networks/

parentINFO

Parent Info is collaboration between CEOP and Parent Zone and provides information to parents and carers about their children’s wellbeing and resilience, internet safety and a wide range of other topic matters like sex, relationship and body image.

Think U Know Website

I bet you probably like to use the computer for fun. The Think U Know website will help you go on the internet in a safe way and tell who to talk to if you are worried. You can also find out about Lee & Kim’s adventures or watch Hector and his friends learning to use computers safely! If you want to talk to someone else you can call ‘Childline’, which is a place where people who are nice can help you.

They won’t tell anyone that you have called and it’s free. You can phone them on: 0800 1111.

Top Tips

Always ask a grown up before you use the internet. They can help you find the best thing to do.
Don’t tell strangers where you live, your phone number or where you go to school. Only your friends and family need to know that.
Don’t send pictures to people you don’t know. You don’t want strangers looking at photos of you, your friends or your family.
Tell a grown up if you feel scared or unhappy about anything.

KidSMART Website

Be Smart be cool – Be smart online.
What’s your favourite thing to do online. Visit the KidSMART website and learn more about the internet and being a SMART surfer. Learn the SMART Rules with Kara Winston and the SMART Crew. If anything goes wrong online or upsets you make sure you tell someone about it. Download a poster of the SMART Rules by clicking the link below.

If you find something on the internet or someone has made you sad or scared you should tell your mum, dad or the person who looks after you at home or a teacher at school. If you would like to talk to someone else we have added some links to the Advice Help and Report Centre on the Think U Know website. You can contact people who are friendly and helpful by following the link for your age group.

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