Online Safety
How We Keep Children Safe Online in School
- We are an e-safety aware school and we are committed to educating our community
- We have extensive security measures in place in school to help safeguard pupils from potential dangers or unsuitable material
- Any e-Safety incidents are recorded and managed in accordance with our e-Safety Policy
- E-Safety is taught to all pupils explaining and demonstrating how to stay safe and behave appropriately online
- It’s essential to be realistic - banning the internet or technology will not work and it often makes a child less likely to report a problem
- The use of ICT including the Internet, email, virtual learning environments and today’s mobile technologies are a vital part of learning in our school
- To make this as successful and as beneficial as possible for all learners, we expect all pupils to act safely and responsibly when using technology both within, and outside of, the school environment
Filters - In school, we use an internet proxy filter that blocks access to websites with dubious content.
Security - Apart from Malware and Anti-Virus Software, children's online activities in school are monitored to make sure they stay safe online.
Email - Children are taught to email in school, but can only contact email users within the school and other Dudley schools.
Online Safety Documents
Keeping Children Safe at Home
Education around safe use is essential. We can only be successful in keeping children safe online if we work with parents to ensure the e-Safety message is consistent. It is important that parents speak to their children about how they can keep safe and behave appropriately online. Your support in achieving these aims is essential.
Online does not just include visiting the internet on a PC, most mobile devices such as phones and tablets also have internet connections via WiFi (e.g Router at Home) and the service providers data services (Mobile Data e.g 3G/4G). You should try and agree rules with your child on how to stay safe:
- Try to make sure your child's computer screen is always visible to you when they are using it.
- Install a parental filter that restricts their browsing to safe sites only (note these are not 100% effective as not all sites have rating tags, but parental filters included with anti-virus software can be more effective as they monitor and maintain a list of un-safe sites).
- Restrict their Internet access times to ‘safe’ times. This can also be done in your home router automatically so they cannot access the Internet during selected times (check the router’s user guide or contact your Internet Service Provider on how to set it up).
- Teach your children the dangers that they could come into contact with on line, and that the people that contact them are not always who they say they are, and teach them NEVER to physically meet with anyone they make contact with on line unless you are with them (if you consider it safe to do so).
- Explain that they should not open attachments that come with an email, as they can contain viruses and/or inappropriate images or movies.
- Explain that some people online lie about who they are and use photos of others (possibly their friends) to try and fool them into thinking they are talking with a friend or person the same age, when they are really a much older person that is trying to get close to them. They should never meet up with anyone they meet online.
For more information, please visit WMNet.
CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre). Is an Advice, Help and Report button. Clicking on it will take you to their website, where you can easily follow links for help if you are a parent or child. Please feel free to try it out by clicking the CEOP hyperlink Below.
CEOP
Social Media and Video Call Information
- Facebook is a social network, which lets you create a page about yourself. You can add friends, share pictures and videos, write on people’s pages, send instant messages and join online groups.
- Nobody under the age of 13 is permitted to join Facebook.
- Read Facebook's policy page to get a better understanding of how your information is used.
- Read this privacy settings page in order to better protect yourself and your children on Facebook.
- Read Net Aware's page about Facebook.
- Instagram is a picture and video sharing app. Users can post content and use hashtags to share experiences, thoughts or memories with an online community. You can follow your friends, family, celebrities and even companies on Instagram.
- Nobody under the age of 13 is permitted to join Instagram.
- Read Instagram's privacy policies to get a better understanding of how your information is used.
- Read this privacy settings page in order to better protect yourself and your children on Instagram.
- Read Net Aware's page about Instagram.
Snapchat
- Snapchat is an app that lets you send a photo or short video to your friends. The ‘snap’ appears on screen for a matter of seconds before disappearing. There’s also a feature called Snapchat Story that lets you share lots of snaps in a sequence for up to 24 hours.
- Nobody under the age of 13 is permitted to use Snapchat.
- Read Snapchat's privacy policies to get a better understanding of how your information is used.
- Read this privacy settings page in order to better protect yourself and your children on Snapchat.
- Read Net Aware's page about Snapchat.
Zoom
- Zoom is one the world’s leading video conferencing software providers. It has a number of features, including video and audio conferencing, real-time messaging, screen-sharing and the ability to upload, share and search for content.
- Zoom does not knowingly allow children under the age of 16 to sign up for their own accounts.
- Read Zoom's privacy policies to get a better understanding of how your information is used.
- Read this privacy and security settings page in order to better protect yourself on Zoom.
- Read Net Aware's page about Zoom.
- Read a What Parents Need to Know document about Zoom.
To read more information about staying safe online, please read the staying safe online digital page by BudgetDirect.
Online Gaming Information
Playstation Network/PS4
Privacy Settings | Parental Controls
Steam for Windows/Mac
Privacy Settings | Parental Controls
Xbox Live/Xbox One
Privacy Settings | Parental Controls
Xbox Family Settings - for parents
Microsoft has recently released some new management features that parents can use. Available for iOS and Android, it is a free download and it has some great features, e.g.:
- Create new child accounts
- Manage screen time limits (including grant more time)
- Accept or decline friend requests
- View and manage friends list
This is great information for parents and you can see the full article here.