At Thorpedene we aim to educate pupils about e-safety issues and appropriate behaviours so that they remain safe and legal online. Children will regularly use the internet as part of learning and as such will partake in regular e-safety activities to ensure they are keeping themselves safe. Each year group also has to cover e-safety as a unit within our Computing curriculum. Children at Thorpedene are given the opportunities to develop critical thinking skills to reflect and enable them to keep themselves safe. Digital Leaders are trained to provide support for e-safety including leading assemblies. They encourage children to follow the SMART rules:

S = SAFE:

Keep your personal information safe. When chatting or posting online don’t give away things like your full name, password or home address. Remember personal information can be seen in images and videos you share too. Keep them safe to keep yourself safe.

M = MEET:

Meeting up with someone you only know online, even a friend of a friend, can be dangerous as this person is still a stranger. If someone you only know online ever asks you to meet up, for personal information or for photos/videos of you then tell an adult straight away and report them together on www.thinkuknow.co.uk

A = ACCEPTING:

Think carefully before you click on or open something online (e.g. links, adverts, friend requests, photos) as you never know where they may lead to or they may contain viruses. Do not accept something if you are unsure of who the person is or what they’ve sent you.

R = RELIABLE:

You cannot trust everything you see online as some things can be out of date, inaccurate or not entirely true. To find reliable information compare at least three different websites, check in books and talk to someone about what you have found.

T = TELL:

Tell a trusted adult if something or someone ever makes you feel upset, worried or confused. This could be if you or someone you know is being bullied online. There are lots of people who will be able to help you like your teachers, parents, carers or contact Childline – 0800 11 11 or www.childline.org.uk

Be SMART with a heart

Remember to always be smart with a heart by being kind and respectful to others online. Make the internet a better place by helping your friends if they are worried or upset by anything that happens online
(SMART rules taken from www.childnet.com – download the poster here)
In order to be successful in keeping children safe online we work with parents to ensure the e-safety message is consistent. This is done through letters, newsletters and workshops. It is important that parents speak to their children about their behaviour online and how to keep safe. We take part in Safer Internet Day each year: please follow the link for further information: https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/

Top Tips for Keeping Your Child Safe Online

• Encourage your child to go online and explore. There is a wealth of age-appropriate sites online for your children. Encourage them to use sites which are fun, educational and that will help them to develop online skills.
• Keep up-to-date with your child’s development online. Children grow up fast and they will be growing in confidence and learning new skills daily. It’s important that as your child learns more, so do you.
• Set boundaries in the online world just as you would in the real world. Think about what they might see, what they share, who they talk to and how long they spend online. It is important to discuss boundaries at a young age to develop the tools and skills children need to enjoy their time online.
• Keep all equipment that connects to the Internet in a family space. For children of this age, it is important to keep Internet use in family areas so you can see the sites your child is using and be there for them if they stumble across something they don’t want to see.
• Know what connects to the Internet and how. Nowadays even the TV connects to the Internet. Make sure you’re aware of which devices that your child uses connect to the Internet, such as their phone or games console. Also, find out how they are accessing the Internet – is it your connection, or a neighbour’s wifi? This will affect whether the safety setting you set are being applied.
• Use parental controls on devices that link to the Internet, such as the TV, laptops, computers, games consoles and mobile phones. Parental controls are not just about locking and blocking, they are a tool to help you set appropriate boundaries as your child grows and develops. They are not the answer to your child’s online safety, but they are a good start and they are not as difficult to install as you might think. Service providers are working hard to make them simple, effective and user friendly.
• Help your child to understand that they should never give out personal details to online friends—personal information includes their messenger ID, email address, mobile number and any pictures of themselves, their family and friends. If your child publishes a picture or video online, anyone can change it or share it. Remind them that anyone could be looking at their images!
• If you child receives spam/junk email and texts, remind them never to believe them, reply to them or use them. It’s not a good idea for your child to open files from people they don’t know. They won’t know what they contain—it could be a virus or worse—an inappropriate image or film.
• Help your child to understand that some people lie online and therefore it’s better to keep online mates online. They should never meet up with any strangers.
• Teach your child how to block someone online and how to report them if they feel uncomfortable.

Websites for more information

CEOP https://www.ceop.police.uk/safety-centre/ – CEOP (The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command) delivers a multi-agency service dedicated to tackling the abuse and exploitation of children in the real and ‘e’ world.
https://www.vodafone.com/content/digital-parenting.html?lob=ind&q=united+kingdom# Brought to you by Vodafone, Digital Parenting helps you to get more involved with the technology that young people enjoy. Whether you’re a parent, a carer, a teacher or a teenager, it’s all about building children’s confidence and resilience so that they get the very best out of the fast-moving, awe-inspiring, sometimes-overwhelming digital world.
THINKUKNOW https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/ Thinkuknow is the education programme from NCA-CEOP, a UK organisation which protects children both online and offline. Explore one of the six Thinkuknow websites for advice about staying safe when you’re on a phone, tablet or computer.

CHILDNET https://www.childnet.com/ A non-profit organisation working with others to help make the internet a great and safe place for children.
https://www.internetmatters.org/ With the support of industry partners BT, Sky, TalkTalk, Virgin, Sky, Google and BBC to name a few and the help of leading child online safety experts, internetmatters.org are able to offer you advice and information available on tackling online safety issues.
PARENTINFO https://parentinfo.org/articles/all Parent Info provides support and advice to parents, with contributions from the leading experts and organisations in matters related to young people and families in a digital world.
NET AWARE https://www.net-aware.org.uk/ A guide to the social networks your children use.
NSPCC https://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/

SEND Online Safety Hub - Net Aware Net Aware has partnered with Ambitious about Autism to bring online safety tips, advice and activities specifically for parents and carers of children with SEND. We spoke to parents of children with a range of special educational needs such as dyslexia, autism and speech and language difficulties.