Home / Remote Learning and Digital Technology / Online Safety
Our Online Safety Curriculum Lead is Miss Robinson.
Online safety is an integral part of children’s education in today’s digital world and is embedded in their learning at school.
We also want to help our parents and children improve their own understanding of online safety issues so they can learn to use the internet and all digital media in a safe and secure way.
It is our intention that our pupils are well equipped with an online safery curriculum which is purposeful and provides pupils with the necessary knowledge and skills to keep themselves safe whilst using technology. To deliver our curriculum, we follow the National Curriculum and use every opportunity to promote online safety. Online safety coverage is carefully planned within the Safeguarding curriculum as taught in school, in addition to PSHE and Relationships and Sex Education – ensuring that pupils at all age ranges understand this aspect of learning as a core element of keeping themselves safe.
Children are taught about online safety in a variety of different ways: through dedicated online safety weeks where pupils complete a range of tasks and learning around keeping themselves and others safe using technology; within discussions assemblies for both the whole school and within key stages; through the safeguarding curriculum; through school displays.
As a school we regularly keep our pupils up to date with, apps and ways in which we can keep ourselves safe. We share via our school newsletter and twitter any important notices and updates for our parents and carers to ensure that everybody remains well informed. We encourage children to understand the huge benefits that technology can have and how, when used safely and sensibly, is a wonderful tool for learning and entertainment. We also inform our children how simple procedure can keep themselves safe online:
1. People you don’t know are strangers
2. Be nice to people like you would in the playground
3. Keep your personal information private
4. If you get a funny feeling in your yummy tell an adult you trust.
We monitor the impact of our online safety curriculum by speaking regularly to our pupils; we hold regular assemblies for feedback from pupils and we conduct pupil voice as to gauge the effectiveness of the teaching of online safety. We audit our incident reporting logs on a half termly basis in order to ensure any necessary amendments to our curriculum are made.
As part of your child’s curriculum and the development of computer skills, we provide access to the internet during supervised lessons. We strongly believe that the use of the web is hugely worthwhile and an essential tool for children as they grow up in the modern world. Our school internet access provider operates a filtering system that restricts access to inappropriate materials.
Our curriculum for online safety is strengthened in the following ways:
As a parent, you’ll know how important the internet is to children – they use it to learn, play, socialise and express themselves – and, as your child grows older, how important and influential the internet will continue to be. It’s a highly creative place of amazing opportunities. Often, technology children use every day can seem a bit daunting and you might worry about the risks your child can face online – such as online bullying, contact from strangers or the possibility of them seeing illegal or inappropriate content.
At Girnhill Infant School, we believe it is vital engage with your children regarding their use of the internet while at home. Take a look at some conversation starter ideas from Child Net to help you discuss online safety with your children:
• Ask your children to tell you about the sites they like to visit and what they enjoy doing online.
• Ask them about how they stay safe online. What tips do they have for you, and where did they learn them? What is OK and not OK to share?
• Ask them if they know where to go for help, where to find the safety advice, privacy settings and how to report or block on the services they use.
• Encourage them to help. Perhaps they can show you how to do something better online or they might have a friend who would benefit from their help and support.
• Think about how you use the internet as a family. What could you do to get more out of the internet together and further enjoy your lives online.
Net Aware in collaboration with the NSPCC and O2
