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Online Safety
Online safety
Online safety is an important part of keeping children safe at Parkwood Hall Cooperative Academy.
All of our pupils are taught how to be safe and behave appropriately online, but we can only be successful in keeping children safe online if we work together.
It’s important that as adults, we take an active interest in our children’s online lives and show a willingness to engage in the digital world with them.
If you believe a child is in immediate danger, always contact 999 for police assistance.
The online world is posing an ever-increasing risk to children, and it is important that schools, parents, and carers work together to take an active role in teaching children about online dangers. Learning how to act safely when using the internet is an incredibly important part of safeguarding our children.
We are therefore delighted to announce that Parkwood Hall have shown our commitment to protecting our pupils online by working with National Online Safety- providing resources for all parents and carers.
The resources include Parents & Carers courses (presented by Myleene Klass), online video resources and weekly guides covering a huge range of topics, including:
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Parents have been emailed if we have a current email address on our Schoolzine app. If however you have not yet received an email invitation to join National Online Safety you can follow the link that follows to do so. To create your account, please follow:
https://nationalonlinesafety.com/enrol/parkwood-hall-co-operative-academy
and complete your details. When you’re set up, you’ll be able to set ‘Parent/Carer’ as your user type.
We have already created a watchlist of items that I have picked out that I think might be of use to you and your family to keep them safe online. The sight is aimed at all children so it is important to remember that when looking at the information. Where we can the school will supplement, modify or adapt information so that may be of more direct use to our parents particularly those with children in pathway 1 where there may be times when bespoke information will be required.
You can access National Online Safety online via any device- including via our brand-new smartphone app. To download the app, please go to:
https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/national-online-safety/id1530342372
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.nationaleducationgroup.nos
Answers to frequently asked questions and customer service can be accessed at https://helpdesk.thenationalcollege.co.uk/helpcentre .
Also if you have additional questions, thoughts or concerns that arise about digital media, the internet or online safety, we are always here to help and assist where we can.
The National Crime Agency Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command (NCA-CEOP) have a website which is suitable for children aged 5-16 and has a section just for parents/carers with advice and information.
The NSPCC have produced resources for parents. Their website covers excellent advice for parents about issues such as online grooming, nude image sharing and cyberbullying, as well as specific advice for children with special educational needs and disabilities.
The Childline website has a wide range of information and advice on both online and offline safety for children. There is information about online gaming, grooming, and the Zipit App which helps children feel empowered when confronted with inappropriate chat online. They also provide a helpline for children to get advice over the phone: 0800 1111
UK Safer Internet Centre provides a wide variety of advice and guidance to help you discuss online safety with your children. There are useful checklists for privacy settings on social networks and suggestions to consider before buying devices for your children.
Childnet has resources, including videos and storybooks, to help you discuss online safety with your children. It includes advices on setting up parental controls, cyberbullying and setting up a family agreement for safer internet use
Internet Matters bring you all the information you need to keep your children safe online. It has a tool which guides you through how to set up parental controls on all the different devices in your home to protect your children.
GOLDen rules for parents and carers
Ground advice
- Discuss and agree as a family how the internet will be used in your home. Let your children tell you what they think is and isn’t acceptable for them to do online, such as not being nasty to people, keeping personal information private and speaking to an adult when they are worried. Then add your own rules such as how long they can spend online and when and where webcams can be used.
- You might find it helpful to write these ‘ground rules’ down as a visual reminder.
- Make sure your child understands that their actions and behaviours online can have offline consequences.
- Remember these are whole family rules, so consider your own use of the internet and think about how much information you are sharing on your social networks about your children and who can see it, such as school photos.
- Agree on what will happen if they don’t follow your family rules.
Online safety
- Make sure you apply parental controls to all internet enabled devices in your household, including tablets, phones and games consoles. They can restrict access to inappropriate content and can help you manage how much time your child spends online.
- Make sure your child understands the parental controls are in place to protect them, not restrict them; some children will actively work around parental controls if they feel constrained without knowing why.
- Set up filters on internet search engines to limit the likelihood of your children accidentally coming across inappropriate content when searching online.
- Be aware that internet history can be hidden and deleted, so talk to your children and supervise their online use appropriately.
- Remember filters and parental controls are not 100% effective so you cannot rely on them alone to protect your children. It is important your children understand they should tell you straight away if they see something inappropriate or upsetting online.
Listen
- Take an active interest in your child’s online life and talk openly with them about the things they do. Talk to you child about which websites and apps they like to use and why; engage in their online world with them.
- Be aware of any changes in behaviour, language and attitude in your child. These behaviour changes can indicate something is upsetting your child online. Children who are groomed, radicalised, abused or exploited online will often be pressured to withdraw from family and friends.
Dialogue
- Talk to your children – be open and positive when talking about the internet.
- Make sure your child knows they can come to you for help if something happens online that makes them feel scared, worried or uncomfortable. Many children won’t disclose online worries because they are scared adults will blame them or remove their access to the internet.
- Ask your child if they know where to go for help, where to find safety advice, information about privacy settings and how to report or block users on their games and websites.
- Explore their games and websites together to ensure your child knows how to block and report anyone who is nasty or inappropriate. Encourage your child not to retaliate or reply and to keep any evidence. If the game/app has a ‘parent section’, explore the parental controls and reporting systems yourself.
- Ensure your child understands pictures, videos or comments posted online can be very difficult to remove and rarely remain private.
- Discuss the pressures for young people to send inappropriate or nude(indecent) images to each other. How might this behaviour affect their relationship? Do they know what they would do? Young people need to be aware images can be copied, saved and shared without their knowledge and if they are under 18, they may also be breaking the law by making an indecent image of themselves.
