Online Safety at Sunnybrow - Sunnybrow Primary School

Why is it important to teach our children about Online Safety?

The Internet is now an integral part of children’s lives, enabling them to undertake research for school projects, talk to their friends and access information from around the world. Increasing provision of the Internet in and out of schools brings with it the need to ensure that children are safe.

Internet development is constantly evolving into ever more innovative areas with many websites enabling amazing creativity and interaction between peers. Unfortunately though, there are times when Internet use can have a negative effect on children. Schools and parents need to be aware of the potential dangers and take measures to ensure safe usage by all.

How do we keep children safe online at Sunnybrow?

We use targeted filtering to prevent access to websites that are not suitable or may be dangerous.
Internet access in supervised and we monitor the websites that are accessed.
Children are also taught how to use the technology safely so that they can keep themselves safe.
We take part in annual awareness-raising days, such as Safer Internet day
All member of our school community are asked to sign ‘Acceptable Use’ code of conducts
Regular pupil, parent and staff voice activities to help us monitor the impact of our approach

What can parents do to keep children safe at home?

Most parents will want to reduce the risks to their children, and remembering to set parental controls can reduce the risks to children, and reduce the risk to parents when children accidentally spend online money! Online safety is not just about protecting children from some of the dangers of the internet – it is also about helping them manage their use of technology and using all the benefits that the technological world can offer!

NSPCC Share Aware and Net Aware Resources

It can be hard to keep track of what your child is doing on social networks, apps and games. Or know how to keep them safe. That’s why NSPCC, together with O2, are helping parents untangle the web and teach their children to be Share Aware. Because, just like in real life, kids need your help to stay safe online. Please see the NSPCC Share Aware support guide for further information and the Share Aware website, which includes a video, for hints and tips.

Want to know more about an app or game that your child is using? Not sure what the age recommendation is for any online app or game? Use the NSPCCs Net Aware website to find information on all online apps and games and how you can support your child to use them safely.

Deciding What’s Appropriate for Children to See Online

The online world gives us access to a huge amount of information and services, but the scale of information available also means that there is content that is inappropriate for children. What is or isn’t appropriate is up to individual parents and carers to decide, and could be based on things like age, ability, beliefs and family values. US the NSPCC Parental Controls to find out further information.

Here are a list of useful websites:

Think U Know – http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk

BBC Stay Safe – http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/curations/stay-safe

Kidsmart – http://www.kidsmart.org.uk/

Childnet International – http://www.childnet-int.org/

Digizen – http://www.digizen.org/

Think U Know Parents – http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/

Google Family Centre – http://www.google.com/familysafety/

Parent Info – http://parentinfo.org/

NSPCC- https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/

Childline – https://www.childline.org.uk/

Finally since 2015 is has been a criminal offence for an adult to send a message with sexual content to a child (This is Section 67 of the Serious Crime Act 2015). If you are concerned that this might have happened please contact The Police without further using the device. This will help ensure that evidence can be preserved. The Police can be contacted by phone or from the ThinkUKnow website.

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