As parents/carers we need to educate ourselves and go onto the various social media platforms that our children are using to find out more about them.  We need to protect our children by ensuring we have parental controls, online time controls and filters to protect our children from harmful content online and from spending an unhealthy amount of time online or gaming.

• Keep abreast of current app trends such as ‘tik tok’, ‘instagram’ and ‘snapchat’. 
• Talk to your children about the content they share.
• Ensure they understand and can use the privacy settings of online apps
• Discuss the possible consequences of sharing messages and images

Remember : Most Social Media sites are aimed at 13-year-olds and upwards.

It is important that children understand the impact of online activity on themselves and other people, today and in the future.

GAMING is fun but be aware that it can be all consuming:-

• Agree with your child how long they can spend playing games.
• Consider the AGE ratings of games and WHY they are so.
• Remember some online games have inbuilt chat functions
• Use the gaming consoles safety settings.

Learning to keep safe online

Using the internet can make learning fun, fast and easy. The following sites offer help to keeping you and your child safe online:

• BBC Webwise online safety course – this site gives advice on not only keeping your child safe, but also gives tips on what adults should be doing for themselves too.
• Think U Know – Parents and Carers – produced by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP). Their site offers really good advice on keeping your child safe online.
• GOV.UK Internet Safety – offering advice on Cyberbullying, Social Netwroking, downloading files and online gaming as well as general advice on keeping your child safe online.
• Are you a switched on Parent? – click to find out!
• Family agreement - Family agreements are a great way to encourage boundaries and communication within the home.
• NSPCC - Keeping children safe online
• Keep them safe – free online course to help parents to protect their children against sexual exploitation
• www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/#guides
• NSPCC link to protecting children from online abuse.
• ParentZone – Parent guides to a variety of popular online platforms and apps
• Internet matters (support for parents and carers to keep their children safe online)
• LGfL - ParentSafe (support for parents and carers to keep their children safe online
• UK Safer Internet Centre

• Don’t post any personal information online – like your address, email address or mobile number.
• Think carefully before posting pictures or videos of yourself. Once you’ve put a picture of yourself online most people can see it and may be able to download it, it’s not just yours any more.
• Keep your privacy settings as high as possible
• Never give out your passwords
• Don’t befriend people you don’t know
• Don’t meet up with people you’ve met online. Speak to your parent or carer about people that are suggesting you do.
• Remember that not everyone online is who they say they are
• Think carefully about what you say before you post something online
• If you see something online that makes you feel uncomfortable, unsafe or worried leave the website, turn off your computer and tell a trusted adult straight away.

Learning to keep safe online

There are lots of great things to do on the Internet but, you also need to know how to stay safe online and what to do if you come across something you don’t like.

• Think U Know for 5 to 7 year olds – 5, 6 or 7. This website has been set up just for you, to help you go on the internet in a safe way and know who to talk to if you are worried.
• Think U Know for 8 to 10 year olds – showing you what’s good, look at what’s not and show you ways you can get yourself out of bad situations.
• Kids Smart – gives advice on how to stay safe on the Internet, whatever you are doing including searching for information, playing games, listening to music and entering competitions.
• CBBC Stay Safe: Advice on Internet Safety – includes interactive clips from Tracy Beaker, a Newsround Special and Dongle’s Guide to be SMART.

'Cyberbullying' can be defined as willful and repeated harm inflicted through the use of computers, mobile phones, and other electronic devices.  Here, the technology is not the problem, it’s the bullies’ behaviour. 

You can help support your child by:

• Talking about bullying issues 
• Report any incidents - it will help your child and others too!
• Make sure your child knows that bullying in any form is not OK and that you will support them should they need help with online activity.

As a school, we do all we can to keep children safe whilst using the internet and through our curriculum give them knowledge and skills to help keep themselves safe and build digital resilience. We cannot do it without your support at home too, we really appreciate you working with us and reinforcing these messages and skills at home.

We all want the best for children and it is really important that children are protected from unsuitable online content and have a healthy balance between screen time and other activities. The digital world became a huge part of our lives during the lockdowns and it is really important to acknowledge how many positives there are to our digital lives, but it is also important to have a balance.

As well as parental controls and internet filters it is so important that you monitor how much time your child spends on digital devices. It is a good idea to set up a timetable/rota to clearly identify where your child is allowed screen time. Where possible, ensure that your child remains in the room with you at all times, during their allocated screen time. Please make sure that you are aware of what your child is accessing whilst online and have relevant parental controls or protection in place on PCs, laptops, phones and tablets and also on streaming services on TV and games consoles.

We strongly recommend that you adhere to the age restrictions on Social Media apps and sites, Here are some of the popular ones for quick reference:

It is always better to wait until the required age to join any social media service. These rules around age relate to privacy, but also are relevant to safety. Some services offer additional protection for users who are registered as under 18, and by supplying a fake age young people can potentially lose some of this protection. Young people also risk being exposed to content which is intended for older users when they use sites that are not designed for people their age.

Games have an age limit too. These games may seem harmless enough but many of them have unsuitable content, including violence, swearing and drugs and alcohol. Seeing and hearing such inappropriate content could well affect your child's behaviour and wellbeing. Children have also been known to become addicted to such content.

Roblox - 7yrs	Fortnite - 12yrs	Minecraft - 7yrs

For any Game or App where contact is made with others please remember that your child can be exposed to unsavoury messages and content - even from other children and privacy settings are essential, making sure your child is not sharing more information than they intend to.