Visit www.oursafetycentre.co.uk to get information on a range of e-safety matters.

TEST AND UPGRADE YOUR HOME INTERNET FILTERING

Whilst school devices have filtering active to prevent access to the worse corners of the internet, many pupils also have access to other ways to get online. These are frequently less secure.

The easiest way to prevent children accessing inappropriate content on personal devices is by activating parental controls on your internet connection.

Guidance on how to do this can be found on the websites of most providers (see the January 2023 e-safety newsletter).

You can easily check what your current home internet or phone data settings will block by using this site:

www.testfiltering.com

Note: although it won't show you the page result, this tool  WILL attempt to search for questionable material so may not be appropriate if using a device that is monitored (e.g a work computer or phone) 

It's not easy being a parent in the digital age 

Technology moves fast. Parentzone have tools and advice to help you keep up.

VIRGIN MEDIA - HOW TO ADD PARENTAL CONTROLS TO YOUR ACCOUNTS

O2 have created their own suite of online safety resources for parents. Find them here. 

E-Safety

E-Safety is an awareness of how to use the internet (and technology in general) safely.

Within curriculum time we focus on the importance of secure passwords, the use of critical thinking to filter search results and information found online and how to make the right choices when personal data might be shared. We also talk about the potential consequences of decisions and actions made when interacting with others online; covering cyberbullying and deciding who it is safe to talk to online. 

This is taught alongside the use of technology such as our chromebooks and the digital tools that we use in lesson time.

However, we are aware that in school we are working within a relatively safe 'walled garden', where children's access to the internet can be largely controlled and curated by watchful staff and network security measures. 

Pupils only spend around 15% of their year in school, however, and the same controls may not apply when they use the internet outside school time. 

We know that for parents, the internet at home can be a challenging environment to manage; children will often have largely unsupervised access to everything that it offers and this can mean that they stumble into inappropriate areas of the world wide web. With the predicted growth of the 'metaverse' this is likely to become a greater challenge in future. .

Balancing the desire for children to take personal responsibility for online activity and a manageable degree of adult oversight against the demands and challenges of family life can be difficult.

Amongst younger children, once an app or game becomes 'the next big thing' amongst older peer groups it can be difficult to explain why it's not right for them yet, or to prevent them accessing it despite this without taking a hardline stance over more general internet access. In school we can add such things to our blocklist but parents don't always have that tool available to them at home. 

It's not possible to cover every possible challenge or proposed solution in a single page, but we hope that the resources and links here will provide starting points for parents keen to learn more about how to support their children growing up in 'the Digital Age'. Sometimes, just feeling you're able to stay a step ahead is better than a sense that you're running to keep up with your child's knowledge of the online world. 

The parentzone resource, in particular, is a useful tool and reference point for parents, with easily digestible information on virtually every popular app or game that your child might ask for access to. 

Our monthly newsletters contain information on the latest trends, helping to increase your knowledge about these. 

All of the newsletters published below are available in the SchoolJotter App too.