Online Safety
Online Safety is an important issue for children today.
Chepping View children are taught, through Computing and PSHE lessons, that personal information should be kept private and that anything that makes them feel unsafe or uncomfortable should be reported to an adult they trust as soon as possible.
It can be difficult for parents to keep up-to-date with the latest issues in Online Safety. We try to inform parents of anything relevant via email or our parents Facebook group.
Current ESafety issues in the news
- The game Roblox has some safeguarding issues- see this BBC article: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-48450604?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/c1824w39w4yt/internet-safety&link_location=live-reporting-story
- The documentary 'Murder Games- The Life and Death of Brecht Bednar' is an excellent demonstration of how even a very tech savvy teenager can be groomed. It is sometimes available to watch on BBC iPlayer, but the BBC website also has some particularly relevant clips which parents may find useful here: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03cgtx5/clips
- All you need to know about TikTok- https://www.tes.com/news/teachers-guide-tiktok?utm_campaign=14014520&utm_content=Daily-Register-121219&utm_source=exact-target&utm_medium=email
- The NSPCC have some great advice for parents regarding Online Safety here: www.nspcc.org.uk/shareaware and here: www.net-aware.org.uk
- Try this guide for parents about Online Privacy: Comparitech guide to online privacy for parents
Advice for parents
Some top tips for promoting Online Safety:
- Encourage your child to close down any app, chat, video or images that upset them or make them uncomfortable, and tell you about it.
- Make sure they know that you can never be completely sure who you are talking to when it's being done over the internet.
- Don't allow them to use mobile devices or computers with internet connectivity in a room away from you.
- Insist on knowing usernames and passwords.
- Do not allow them to open social media accounts which usually have an acceptable usage age of 13 (Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat etc)
- Regularly check their mobile devices to see what apps have been downloaded and whether these apps have chat functions, video chat or image sharing functions. If they do, you need to monitor them very closely.
- Check their browser history.
- Install child security software to limit search functions and filter out some inappropriate material.
- Teach your child to look for the privacy settings on every app and website that they install/make an account on. Their privacy settings should be locked down as tightly as possible- especially ensure that any functions which show your child's location or allow strangers to contact them, are switched off.