Online Safety

Online Safety is an important part of keeping children safe at Gordon Primary School. E-Safety (online safety) is taught to all pupils, which explains and demonstrates how to stay safe and behave appropriately online but we can only be successful in keeping children safe online if we work with you. It's important that we are all vigilant when children are using the Internet and act to ensure they are protected from the people who may pose a risk to them. Children can accidentally or deliberately be exposed to illegal, unwanted or unpleasant content, comments or activity online and there are steps you can take to minimise this risk.

Four steps to providing a safer Internet for your children

1: Have an on-going conversation about what your child is using the Internet for and how they can stay safe

2: Use safety tools on social network sites and other online services. Look through the helpful links on the other side of this page to find privacy guides and how to set these up.

3: Decide if you would like to use parental controls at home. Look through the helpful links on the other side of this page to find parental control guides and how to set these up at home.

4: Understand what devices can use the Internet and research devices, games, films and apps before purchasing for your child. Using the Common Sense Media website will help you understand a product. 

We follow S.M.A.R.T. rules at Gordon Primary School while using the Internet

SAFE 

Keep safe by being careful not to give out personal information when you’re chatting or posting online. Personal information includes your email address, phone number and password.

MEETING 

Meeting someone you have only been in touch with online can be dangerous. Only do so with your parents’ or carers’ permission and even then only when they can be present. Remember online friends are still strangers even if you have been talking to them for a long time

ACCEPTING 

Accepting emails, IM messages, or opening files, pictures or texts from people you don’t know or trust can lead to problems – they may contain viruses or nasty messages!

RELIABLE 

Someone online might lie about who they are and information on the internet may not be true. Always check information with other websites, books or someone who knows. If you like chatting online it’s best to only chat to your real world friends and family

TELL 

Tell your parent, carer or a trusted adult if someone or something makes you feel uncomfortable or worried, or if you or someone you know is being bullied online.

Every year, Gordon Primary School celebrates Safer Internet Day with the rest of the world. During the day, children discuss their online behaviour at school and at home and learn about how they can act safely whilst enjoying the Internet. 

Gordon Primary School promotes online safety across the entire school and we want to ensure every pupil understands their responsibilities online. We talk to the pupils about the Internet rules, how to be fair to others and keep themselves safe online. 

In EYFS and Key Stage 1, the class teacher will read the agreement and make sure the children understand the rules and how to follow them. Once the class understands the rules the class will sign the document.

In Key Stage 2, the class teacher will read the agreement and discuss the rules with the class. The children accept these rules when they log into any computer or tablet in school.  

Each pupil is asked to sign that they will use the computing systems at Gordon Primary responsibly, to ensure that there is no risk to the safety of themselves or others. They will also follow these rules when using the Internet at home.

Resources to help you create a safer online world for your children:

Internet Matters - https://www.internetmatters.org/ 

Helping parents keep their children safe online

London Grid for Learning - https://www.lgfl.net/online-safety/resource-centre?s=16 

Safeguarding and online-safety resources for parents

Parent Info - https://parentinfo.org/ 

Help and advice for families in a digital world

Think You Know - https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/

Advice from the National Crime Agency; click the CEOP button for advice and to report online abuse

UK Safer Internet Centre - https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/

Safety tips, advice and resources to help children and young people stay safe online

Secure Passwords – https://howsecureismypassword.net/

A program that will test how secure a password is

Common Sense Media - https://www.commonsensemedia.org/

A parental guide to all types of media, film, games, apps, music and websites

Net Aware - https://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/

A parent’s guide to social media websites and apps. Follow the Net Aware links on this page.

Parental controls - http://parentalcontrols-on.org/

Explains how to setup parental controls on a wide range of devices and your Internet provider

Privacy Settings - http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/social-media-privacy-settings/

Explains how to set up privacy settings on a wide range of social media websites

A Parental guide to technology - https://saferinternet.org.uk/advice-centre/parents-and-carers

Guides that range from a smartphone to a Nintendo 3DS and covers how to secure your Internet browsers

Childnet - http://www.childnet.com/resources/know-it-all-for-parents

Interactive presentation about the Internet delivered in multiple languages.

KidSmart - http://www.kidsmart.org.uk/

An online guide to E-Safety for children and parents