ESafety: Keeping safe online

E-Safety at Featherstone Primary & Nursery School

The internet has changed all of our lives, particularly our children’s. At Featherstone Primary and Nursery School, we strongly encourage sensible use of digital and online technologies. E-safety is a key integrated part of our Computing Curriculum. Our teaching aims to raise awareness of online risks, so that your child can get the most from the Internet and technology, whilst staying safe.

The positives of technology far outweigh the negatives. As parents, we fear the potential negative impact of social media, cyber-bullying, adult content, predators; we are confronted with so many negative headlines and frightening stories. But the internet offers amazing opportunities for learning, connecting, creating, and collaborating. While it might be tempting to ban internet access on smart phones, tablets, laptops and game consoles, this simply makes children more vulnerable when they access it alone.

E-safety Workshop for Parents

To ensure that you are up to date on how to keep your children safe online, we will be holding numerous E-Safety workshops later on this year.

The session aims to outline to you the benefits of internet use outside school (not only on computers but a range of devices), but also highlight some of the risks posed to children and offer some practical ideas to help parents deal with the issues more confidently. The workshop will also provide you guidance on how to understand how to set up parental controls on home and mobile devices.

If you would like to take part of such an essential and valuable opportunity and attend the workshop, then please keep an eye on our Website for upcoming dates.

E Safety 10 Top Tips

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.
Check out what child protection services your Internet Service Provider (ISP) offers – do they filter for spam, for instance? If not, ask them why.
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.
Inform and educate your children not to give out their personal details. If they want to subscribe to any services online, make up a family email address to receive the mail.
Children love to chat, but make sure they only use moderated chat rooms and encourage them to introduce you to their online friends.
Encourage your children to tell you if they feel uncomfortable, upset or threatened by anything they see online.
Involve your children in writing your own family code of acceptable internet use. Remember that what’s acceptable for a teenager is not necessarily suitable for a primary school-aged child; therefore their input would be valuable.
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.
The Internet is a great resource for homework, but remember to use more than one website in research to get abroad, balanced information and always reference your research sources.
Surf -Together. Go online with your children and become part of their online life. The key to safe surfing is communication.

Further E-safety guidance

Click on the links below for further useful information, advice and guidance on E-safety.

E-safety leaflets for parents in different languages