Online Safety

We have several policies and procedures in place that contribute to our safeguarding commitment, including our Online Safety Policy which can be viewed in the Policies section of our website or by clicking here.

Online Safety is an important part of keeping children safe at St Brendan’s RC Primary School . We have extensive security measures in place in school, which are monitored both internally and externally, to help safeguard pupils from potential dangers or unsuitable material. Any Online Safety incidents are recorded and managed. Online Safety is taught to all pupils explaining and demonstrating how to stay safe and behave appropriately online.

We can only be successful in keeping children safe online if we work with parents to ensure the Online Safety message is consistent. Parents must speak to their children about how they can keep safe and behave appropriately online.

As part of our participation in the Speak Out Stay Safe programme, our colleagues from the NSPCC delivered an online workshop session for parents. Please follow the link below for further advice and guidance on how to keep our children safe online.

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/what-we-do/about-us/partners/nspcc-o2-online-safety-partnership/

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. Education around safe use is essential.

The link below is a Parents’ Guide to Technology from the UK Safer Internet Centre and explains how to ensure the safe use of gaming devices, smartphones, tablets and more for children. I hope you find this very useful as we continue to work to keep our children safe in an online world.

http://www.saferinternet.org.uk/advice-and-resources/parents-and-carers/parents-guide-to-technology

Search engines

Please note that no search engine is ever 100% safe but below provides some links to some “safer” search engines:

RESEARCH SEARCHING

Safe Search Kids
CBBC
Kids Yahoo

Google offers a safer search option for children searching on the Internet. You can find out how to do this by downloading the instructions at the bottom of the page.

IMAGE SEARCHING

Pics4Learning
picsearch

GAMING

When children are accessing games the devices below, the privacy settings can be set up. Please follow the link below for more information

Xbox

Switch

Playstation

Websites for more information

Please click on the icon to go to the relevant site

CEOP (The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre) delivers a multi-agency service dedicated to tackling the abuse and exploitation of children in the real and ‘e’ world. Often it is referred to as an online 999. By clicking on the button, young people and parents can get advice on a range of issues such as viruses, hacking and dealing with bullying online.

Vodafone have produced a Digital Parenting Magazine which informs parents about the various technologies children are accessing today. There is information on Facebook settings, Xbox 360 settings, Blackberry settings, jargon busting and many more ‘How to Guides’. They are well worth a read and some are attached below for you to download.

The “Thinkuknow” website is brought to you by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) centre.

Kidsmart gives you lots of advice on how to stay safe online.

Online Safety Portal for Parents and Schools – Internet Matters

Internet Matters is a new online portal designed for parents to access simple, easy and practical advice about online safety for their children, right through from pre-school to teens. It provides tips on protecting children from online grooming, cyberbullying, privacy and identity theft and inappropriate content. Internet Matters is a not-for profit organisation set up by BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media.